The Context 

Here we have Mike Shaw, AKA Bastion Booger, AKA Makhan Singh, briefly talking about his run in the GWF. Since we’re reviewing some of their television from the beginning, I thought it would be interesting to revisit those comments. Interestingly enough, Shaw forgets his time with Global until the interviewer brings it up. He classified them as ‘million-dollar pipe dreams with a $10 budget,” which seems like a totally fair characterization. Shaw talks about some of the things Joe Pedecino told him, like having big money from a foreign investor in oil from the Middle East. Shaw said he knew the promotion was in trouble when different people were signing their paychecks, and also talked about how the only shows they ran were the Dallas tapings for ESPN, and that they weren’t even doing house shows of any kind. He also discussed his time with the Cartel. He remembered every part of the stable, but briefly forgot Scott Levy (Scott Anthony in GWF or the later Raven) before remembering when saying he didn’t think Anthony liked him. 

Analysis 

Shaw probably never stopped to ask about or get the whole story from the GWF, and he was gone long before some of the GWF’s details emerged. The “Iraqi oil money” he’s detailing has to be famed Nigerian money man, Olu Oliami, who was the supposed financial backer behind Pedecino and Global. Between the Sheets did a few excellent Patreon episodes on the GWF, and their eventual conclusion was that Pedecino was introduced to Oliami through some of his Atlanta business connections, and that Oliami took everyone for a ride from the beginning. Pedecino was giving repeated interviews referencing $25 million they needed to start the promotion, and it became very clear right away that the GWF was becoming more and more a Texas regional promotion than a national start-up. With Shaw referencing the different signatures on checks, you had Pedecino, Oliani, and the Georgia-based business family, the Overstreets, all involved in upper management or financing the promotion. Who knows who put their John Hancock on payroll at various points? All in all, it is interesting to hear a guy who was a pretty straight shooter describe his POV from this debacle. 

The Video