Shining Road Info and History

Shining Road Pro-Wrestling is an independent company owned by the fastfood chain, Pollobucket.

On the 1 year anniversary of the return of Lion's Road Pro-Wrestling, Pollobucket announced that they had purchased the fledgling pro-wrestling company Sakura Pro based out of Yokohama. Rebooted as Shining Road, this latest project in Pollobucket's foray into pro-wrestling coincides with Pollobucket’s recent push to expand into the Northeast Asian market.

With a notable affinity for national heritage, most of the roster consists of Japanese natives with a handful of foreigners as regular participants at any given time.


The Rise and Fall of Sakura Pro

Sakura Pro was a pro-wrestling company based out of Yokohama, Japan. Designed to straddle between access to Tokyo as well as the city of Yokosuka, home to a large U.S. naval base, the company was quite successful during the early 2000s. Under the leadership of the legendary former sumo and pro-wrestler, Takeo Yoshida, audiences routinely exceeded the capacity of the Bushidokan where most televised shows were hosted.

As viewership expanded, the company began touring the country to much success. With more eyes on the company’s progress and a possible international tour in the works, this success would ultimately compromise the franchise. Flex Montana, on loan from Federation MAPLE! based out Ottawa, Ontario, Canada would become a regular competitor and go on to win the company’s top prize – the GPWS Heavyweight Championship. However, after drunkenly assaulting a woman inside a nightclub in Chiba, Flex would abscond from Japan with the heavyweight title in his possession to avoid legal repercussions. Stripping the title proved difficult and Flex Montana’s legal team would eventually prove successful in allowing him to hold onto and defend the title outside the country.

Without their top prize, Sakura Pro failed to attract top talent and the shows at the Bushidokan suffered from extremely low attendance. President Yoshida’s leadership was routinely criticized even in the Tokyo press and by 2015 the company stood on the threshold of bankruptcy.

Pollobucket and Tokyo Roar

In August 2016, Pollobucket approved Lion’s Road Pro-Wrestling’s first international tour outside of North America. Known as the Tokyo Roar tour, the month spent in Japan lost much revenue for the promotion with the exception of the final show headlined by Robb Daniels’ King of the Lions title defense against Kenshin Takamura. However, concession sales in the arena outpaced their performance in North American venues by over 60% and led Pollobucket quickly began deliberations regarding a permanent expansion into the East Asian marketplace.

The Board of Directors initially denied expansion on the basis that it was unclear whether standalone Pollobucket restaurants would succeed. During the quarterly meetings in November and nearing the end of the 2016 fiscal year, Super Pollo argued that a permanent pro-wrestling franchise in Japan could serve as a vehicle for introducing Pollobucket into a new marketplace. The controversial expansion was approved by the Board of Directors in early 2017.

Enter Shining Road and the All-Japan Imperial Championship

Phase One of the new expansion involved the establishment of a pro-wrestling company that would serve as a proper host. Due to the high costs of touring promotions, Pollobucket targeted the foundation of a regionally based promotion. Learning the details of Sakura Pro’s demise, the fast food chain acquired the title to the Bushidokan as well as the roster contracts, licensing, intellectual property, and the remaining championships in the company’s position, administered by the Global Pro-Wrestling Society (GPWS). As a part of the agreement, the new company would be rebooted as Shining Road Pro-Wrestling and service as a sister promotion to Pollobucket’s North American counterpart.

One critical dilemma still needed to be solved: because the GPWS title remaining were the Jr. Heavyweight and Tag Team titles, the company still lacked a heavyweight singles championship. Complicating matters, as a condition of the agreement to purchase Sakura Pro, Takeo Yoshida would remain as president of the company. His infamous reputation as the man who lost the heavyweight title to a rogue gaijin made it difficult to find a respectable committee willing to sanction a new belt due to fears of once again losing possession of another title. Months passed with little success and the intractability of the situation threatened to dissolve Shining Road before it had even begun.

As part of a last-ditch effort, Pollobucket’s negotiating team added Julian Cutlass, the two-time King of Lions Heavyweight Champion of Lion’s Road and fresh off of a victory in the company’s annual singles tournament, the Laurentide Cup, to add prestige to their cause by convincing the sanctioning bodies of Pollobucket’s commitment to Shining Road. This tactic would prove successful. In April 2017 Pollobucket would reach an agreement with the prestigious All-Japan Sports and Wrestling Commission (AJSWC) for the creation of a new national championship.

Because Shining Road preserved and intended to continue defending the remaining championships of Sakura Pro, this new national championship would honor Japanese heritage. On April 29th 2017, the date of the national holiday that celebrates the birthday of Emperor Hirohito, Takeo Yoshida would unveil the All-Japan Imperial Championship as the company’s new top prize and announce that the company would determine the first champion in a tournament held during the month of June.


Shining Road Pro-Wrestling is administered by a Board of Regents that consists of Pollobucket and Shining Road executives as well as a rotating seat consisting of a member of the active roster who acts as their foreman. The current foreman is Hidehiko Nagata.

Takeo Yoshida serves as the company president and is responsible for all executive decision-making. While formally accountable to the Board of Regents, his popularity with the native roster – despite the loss of the GPWS Heavyweight Title – gives him considerable leverage in dealing with the Board.


The roster is composed to some extent of factions, divided by ambition and style. The primary division in the roster concerns the role of Pollobucket in the affairs of the company. This pits supporters of the company as the Shining Road sekigun against SAKURA gundan, composed of critics of Pollobucket involvement. Separate factions included the MMA-influenced A.R.M.B.A.R. and the lucha-inspired Wingmen.

SHINING ROAD SEKIGUN

The Shining Road sekigun (main army) consists of fighters supportive of Pollobucket’s buyout. Those in this camp are both members of the roster who are simply appreciative of the opportunity to continue wrestling as well as those with greed-inspired motives who understand the resources a company like Pollobucket can muster. While they do not have an official captain, their de facto leader is Takeshi Morimoto, a rising young star and former GPWS Jr. Heavyweight champion who has since graduated to the heavyweight ranks. Also a prominent name is “Mr. Meiji” Tsutomu Arimoto, a masked heavyweight wrestler and long-time fan favorite.

SAKURA GUNDAN

The sekigun is opposed by SAKURA gundan (battalion), a faction made up of wrestlers who range from skeptics of Pollobucket intentions to critics who resent their newfound so-called saviors. Ikki Yanagi, a vicious, brawling fighter, leads the gundan. Some have wondered whether he leads SAKURA gundan to sincerely contest Pollobucket involvement or if he is more interested with keeping up with his archrival, Takeshi Morimoto. Yanagi’s brother-in-arms is Makoto Ueno, known most infamously for being the man who lost the old heavyweight title to Flex Montana. At the time of Pollobucket’s purchase, Yanagi and Ueno reigned as the tag team champions.

A.R.M.B.A.R. (All Real Men Break All Rules)

In response to Flex Montana absconding with the GPWS Heavyweight title, Sakura Pro experimented with holding Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) bouts on their cards. Hayato Hamada, a Japanese-American MMA fighter, created and led the group. While this ultimately did not alleviate the company’s struggles, many of the wrestlers continued to stick around on the roster and include Kaito Matsushita, Damon Turlan, and Kazuo Inoue.

The Wingmen

A troupe of luchadores who compete in the junior heavyweight ranks, these wrestlers are fan favorites whose acrobatic prowess is among the best in the region. While they play a minor role on shows and tend to avoid the conflict over Pollobucket, they include an array of formidable opponents.


All-Japan Imperial Championship

This title is sanctioned by the prestigious All-Japan Sports and Wrestling Commission (AJSWC) and serves as the top prize of Shining Road Pro Wrestling. Only the most skilled competitors in the company compete for this title. While by definition it is considered a national championship, this title has earned significant prestige throughout Japan due to its affiliation with the AJSWC. Because the AJSWC sanctions championships in multiple sports, the All-Japan Imperial title can be contested under both pro-wrestling and mixed martial arts rules. This unique distinction only serves to elevate the prestige of this championship and thus it attracts interests from fighters across numerous sports.

GPWS Tag Team Championship

At the top of the tag team division stands this championship. Founded in 1999 with the establishment of Sakura, the GPWS tag titles have been defended throughout the country.

GPWS Junior Heavyweight Championship

With the success of Sakura Pro, in 2005 the company held an eight-man round-robin tournament known as the Sword of Lite Grand Prix that would also serve to determine the first GPWS Jr. Heavyweight championship. Izawa Fujiyama would win the tournament to become the first champion and establish instant credibility to the new title. Since its inception, numerous matches have been fought to become champion and it is regarded as one of the most honored sub-heavyweight titles in Japan.


There are three primary tournaments in Shining Road.

- The World Pro-Wrestling Tournament (August) is a mass-scale round-robin tournament designed to crown the top wrestler in the company at that time. Winners receive a shot at the All-Japan Imperial Championship.

- Shining Warriors Tag League (May) is a round-robin tournament designed to crown the top tag team in the company at that time. Winners receive a shot at the GPWS Tag Team Championship.

- Sword of Lite Grand Prix (November) is a tournament that has been fought under round-robin and single-elimination rules since it was established in 2005. Winners receive a shot at the GPWS Jr. Heavyweight Championship.