Fire Festival
Fire Festival
Main page

Fire Festival

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Fire Festival

The Himatsuri (Japanese: 火祭り) is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Zero1 to determine the top wrestler in the promotion, typically contested between July and August. Within the English-speaking professional wrestling world, the tournament is commonly referred to by its translated name Fire Festival.

Though it has sometimes be held as a single pool tournament, the tournament usually – and currently – features two pools of wrestlers, with the winner of each pool facing off in a final match to decide that year's winner. The winner of the tournament is presented with the "Fire Sword", which they carry for the following year until the next Festival.

In its current format, the tournament lasts four weeks. The winner of each pool is determined by a points system; five points for a victory by pinfall, submission, knockout or forfeit, four points for a win by countout, disqualification or technical knockout, three points for a draw, and zero points for a loss or no contest. Under the current format, double decisions (such as double count-outs or double disqualifications) are treated as draws.

In addition to Zero1 members, the tournament has frequently included outside stars, including 2003 winner Satoshi Kojima, Kensuke Sasaki and Taka Michinoku.

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.

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.

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.

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

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.