is an annual

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

round-robin

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

held by

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. I ...

to determine the top wrestler in the promotion, typically contested in late July/early August. Within the English-speaking professional wrestling world, the tournament is commonly referred to by its translated name Fire Festival. In addition to Zero1 members, it has frequently included outside stars, including 2003 winner

Satoshi Kojima is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but makes appearances for Pro Wrestling Noah. Considered to be one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of the 21st century and of all-time, he was the first wrest ...

Kensuke Sasaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and founder of the now-defunct wrestling promotion Diamond Ring. Sasaki is the first of four men ever to hold all three of '' puroresus major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Heav ...

and

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the ...

. Since 2002, it has featured two blocks, each with five participants, with the two block winners facing off in the final to determine the overall champion. The 2001 Fire Festival only featured four in each block, but held the same principle. The winner of the tournament is presented with the "Fire Sword", which they carry for the following year until the next Festival.

Results

List of winners

2001

The 2001 Fire Festival was held from September 1 to September 15, over three weekly events on September 1, 8 and 15; four tournament matches were held at each, including the final on September 15.

2002

The 2002 Fire Festival expanded the tournament to include 10 participants, and was held from July 28 to August 4 over five shows, each featuring four tournament matches.

2003

The 2003 Fire Festival was held from July 25 to August 1, with four matches on July 27 being contested in

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

. The winner,

, is to date the only "outsider" to win the Fire Festival, representing AJPW.

2004

The 2004 Fire Festival was held from July 27 to August 1, over five shows.

2005

The 2005 Fire Festival was held from July 29 to August 7, over five shows.

2006

The 2006 Fire Festival was held from July 20 to July 29, over six shows. Due to a tie for first place in Block A, a four-way elimination match was made on the night of the final to determine the winner of the block, with that man facing Block B winner

Ryouji Sai (born Choi Young-ii June 3, 1980) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and promoter who currently owns and operates Pro Wrestling Land's End, where he is a former All Asia Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for working fo ...

later in the night. This would end up being Masato Tanaka, who also went on to defeat Sai and win the tournament. The top 4 in Block A are ranked below by order of elimination, with the first eliminated, Kazunari Murakami, ranked lowest.

2007

The 2007 Fire Festival was held from July 16 to August 2, over nine shows. Four of the ten participants were determined by each winning a qualifying match on May 27. Four more were determined by fan voting, and the final two were outsiders handpicked by ZERO1-MAX. On July 20, it was announced that

Ikuto Hidaka (born August 5, 1972) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Hidaka was the regular partner of Minoru Fujita, with whom he has held the Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team and Intercon ...

would be replacing Kazunari Murakami, who was forced out of action after just one match due to a head injury, due to finishing in fifth place in the fan vote. In a similar situation to the 2006 tournament, Block A ended in a full tie with four points, leading to a five-way match on August 2 to determine the finalist. The participants and schedule are as follows: ¹Kazunari Murakami wrestled this match; Hidaka was awarded the point upon replacing Murakami.

2008

The 2008 Fire Festival was held from July 27 to August 3 over six shows. It featured ten participants in two blocks, including outside participation from

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasaki, ...

Daisuke Sekimoto (born February 9, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He is a three-time BJW World Strong Heavyw ...

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

Manabu Nakanishi is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler, who was primarily associated with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, one-time G1 Climax winner and three-time IWGP Tag Team Champi ...

and

Togi Makabe , better known by his ring name is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained by and currently performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, two-time ...

and Dragon Gate's

Masaaki Mochizuki is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling Noah. Mochizuki is a former FIP World Champion and three-time Open the Dream Gate Champion. Professional wrestling career Early years A former karateka ...

. As a result of a tie for the lead in Block B, a three-way match between Nakanishi,

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He ...

and Masato Tanaka would be held on the final day to decide the finalist; Tanaka won the match by pinning Omori, and would defeat Makabe in the final.

2009

The 2009 Fire Festival was held from July 25 to August 8 over seven shows. It featured ten participants in two blocks, including outside participation from

and Apache Army's

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's cl ...

. Both blocks ended in a tie for first place after the group stage; a four-way tie in Block A between

Kohei Sato is a Japanese professional wrestler contracted with Pro Wrestling Zero1. Sato is also a former mixed martial artist. Career A former judoka and amateur wrestler, Sato made his transition to mixed martial arts after meeting Kazunari Murakami and ...

, Akebono,

and

Shinjiro Otani is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury substained in April 2022. A product of the ...

, and a three-way tie in Block B between

, Masato Tanaka and

. This marked the fourth year in a row that such a tie has occurred. Both ties would be decided in a three- or four-way match on the night of the tournament. Sato and Sai won their respective matches, and Sai would go on to win the final.

2010

The 2010 Fire Festival was held from July 24 to August 4 over seven shows. It featured ten participants in two blocks.

2011

The 2011 Fire Festival was held from July 24 to August 7 over eight shows. It featured ten participants in two blocks.

2012

The 2012 Fire Festival was held from July 20 to August 5 over eleven shows. It featured ten participants in two blocks.

2013

The 2013 Fire Festival was held from July 17 to August 4 over ten shows. It featured twelve participants in two blocks and was contested for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship.

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

James Raideen Dylan James (born 25 May 1991) is a New Zealand professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Land's End. He is best known for working for All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he ...

became the first foreigner to win the tournament. At 22 years old, he also became both the youngest winner of the tournament and the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history.

2014

The 2014 Fire Festival took place from July 13 to August 3 over nine shows. It featured twelve participants in two blocks, including outside participation from

and

Kazuki Hashimoto is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), competing in the Strong J division, where he is a former BJW Junior Heavyweight Champion. Professional wrestling career Hashimoto enrolled in Animal Ham ...

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

Hideki Suzuki is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). He previously wrestled in WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Hachiman as a member of Diamond Mine, and also worked as a coach at ...

and

Wrestle-1 was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion, founded in July 2013 by Keiji Mutoh following his resignation from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The core of the promotion's roster was formed by ...

's Kai. One of the matches in the tournament took place at an event held by Wrestle-1. 2014 marked the first time the tournament featured semifinal matches.

2015

The 2015 Fire Festival took place from July 16 to August 2 over eleven shows. It featured twelve participants in two blocks.

Fujita Hayato Hayato Fujita (藤田勇人 ''Fujita Hayato'', born September 20, 1986) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Fujita "Jr." Hayato (フジタ"Jr"ハヤト). Despite his small stature and physique for a professional wr ...

was forced to pull out of the tournament with a knee injury following his first match, forfeiting the rest of his matches.

2016

The 2016 Fire Festival took place from July 8 to 31 over eleven shows. In the tournament, a win by a pinfall, submission or knockout was worth five points, a win by countout, disqualification, TKO or referee stoppage was worth four points, a draw was worth three points and a loss none. Buffa missed his first eight matches in the tournament due to an injury.

2017

The 2017 Fire Festival ran from July 9 to 30 over 13 shows.

2018

The 2018 Fire Festival took place from July 8 to July 29 over ten shows. It featured fourteen participants in two blocks. The point system from 2016 and 2017 returned for the third year.

2019

The 2019 Fire Festival took place from June 16 to July 28 over nine shows. It featured fourteen participants in two blocks. The point system from 2016, 2017, and 2018 returned for the fourth year.

2020

The 2020 edition of the Fire Festival extended on nine nights and culminated on October 25, 2020.

2021

The 2021 edition of the event will take place between July 2 and August 1, 2021.

2022

The 2022 edition of the event will take place between July 1 and July 31, 2022.

References

External links

ZERO1 USA English language website

MAXIMUM ZeroShining RoadZEROONEUSA.com
{{Pro Wrestling Zero1 Pro Wrestling Zero1 Professional wrestling tournaments