Fire Festival The Fire Festival is an annual professional wrestling round - robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling ZERO1 to determine the top wrestler in the promotion , typically contested in late July / early August . In addition to ZERO1 members , it has frequently included outside stars , including 2003 winner Satoshi Kojima , Kensuke Sasaki and TAKA Michinoku . 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 . 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 finals on 9 / 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 . The winner , Satoshi Kojima , 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 finals to determine the winner of the block , with that man facing Block B winner Ryouji Sai 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 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 : Kazunari 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 ' s Daisuke Sekimoto , New Japan Pro Wrestling ' s Manabu Nakanishi and Togi Makabe and Dragon Gate ' s Masaaki Mochizuki . As a result of a tie for the lead in Block B , a three - way match between Nakanishi , Takao Ōmori and Masato Tanaka would be held on the final day to decide the finalist ; Tanaka won the match by pinning Ōmori , 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 Big Japan Pro Wrestling ' s Daisuke Sekimoto and Apache Army ' s Tetsuhiro Kuroda . Both blocks ended in a tie for first place after the group stage ; a four - way tie in Block A between Kohei Sato , Akebono , Ikuto Hidaka and Shinjiro Otani , and a three - way tie in Block B between Ryouji Sai , Masato Tanaka and Daisuke Sekimoto . 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 .