Masato Tanaka and Katsuhiko Nakajima Advance to the Finals of ZERO1’s Fire Festival 2026

By: Ian McCord

The finals of Pro Wrestling ZERO1’s Fire Festival 2026 are set following an action-packed Day 9 on July 26th at the Urayasu Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay. Masato Tanaka and Katsuhiko Nakajima won their respective blocks, earning their way into the finals of the annual round-robin tournament.

The finals will take place on August 7th at Korakuen Hall, with Masato Tanaka and Katsuhiko Nakajima scheduled to battle for the right to carry the legendary Fire Sword.

For Masato Tanaka to reach first place in Block A, he had to put his faith in Kuroshio TOKYO Japan to play spoiler against Shuji Ishikawa, who was one win away from going to the finals. In a shocking turn of events, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan defeated Ishikawa in just over eleven minutes, stopping him from advancing.

In the main event, Tanaka had to avoid defeat to Junya Matsunaga, the man who beat him for the ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championship back in April. Tanaka was able to take the champion to a 30-minute time-limit draw, giving both men one point, just enough for Tanaka to sneak into the finals.

Tanaka took to social media following the event to comment on how all the competitors in this year’s Fire Festival were able to survive the grueling tournament, and stated that all that’s left is giving it his all in the finals at Korakuen.

From Masato Tanaka via X:

“The full schedule of the Fire Festival official matches has come to an end. Although Chris (Vice) suffered an injury before the Fire Festival kicked off, it’s a relief that everyone was able to complete these intense and grueling official matches without any major injuries. All that’s left is Korakuen. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the final ring. I’ve got no choice but to give it my all.”

(English Translation via DeepL)

Elsewhere on the card, Katsuhiko Nakajima punched his ticket to the finals, defeating Tsugataka Sato in a hard-hitting matchup following a Doujime Sleeper Hold. It was a must-win situation for Nakajima after Hayabusa won his final tournament match against Yuko Miyamoto earlier on the card.

After the match, Nakajima delivered a message to the crowd, vowing to win ZERO1’s biggest event of the summer on August 7th.

From Katsuhiko Nakajima:

“This is my first Fire Festival, and I’m one step away from the title. I’m going to win the Fire Festival Sword at Korakuen and take down ZERO1’s big summer event—I’m going to prove I’m the man of the summer.”

(Quote courtesy of Tokyo Sports, English Translation via DeepL)

The Fire Festival 2026 finals between Tanaka and Nakajima will take place at Korakuen Hall on August 7th. This will be Masato Tanaka’s eighth trip to a Fire Festival final, and it will be Nakajima’s first seeing as this is his first time entering the tournament. The event will also feature a Fire Festival Encore Rumble that will include the other 10 wrestlers who competed in this year’s tournament.

Here are the full results from ZERO1’s Fire Festival 2026 Day 9 on July 26th, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Koji Doi & Ryunosuke Nagai defeat Takuya Sugawara & Bryan Ishizaka (9:15) after Doi hits a Padlock Hold on Sugawara.
• 3-Way Match: Yasu Kubota defeats Hide Kubota & Yuki Toki (7:43) by pinfall against Toki.
• Fire Festival – Block B: Hayabusa [6] defeats Yuko Miyamoto [4] (12:11) with a Wrist-Clutch Falcon Arrow.
• Fire Festival – Block B: Katsuhiko Nakajima [8] defeats Tsugataka Sato [2] (12:18) with a Doujime Sleeper Hold.
• Fire Festival – Block A: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan [4] defeated Shuji Ishikawa [7] (11:03) with a Crucifix Hold.
• Fire Festival – Block A: Junya Matsunaga [6] vs. Masato Tanaka [8] – Time-Limit Draw (30:00).

Fire Festival Group Stage Final Standings:

Block A:

1. Masato Tanaka [8]

2. Shuji Ishikawa [7]

3. Junya Matsunaga [6]

4. Kuma Arashi [5]

5. Kuroshio TOKYO Japan [4]

6. Ryunosuke Nagai [0]

Block B:

1. Katsuhiko Nakajima [8]

2. Hayabusa [6]

3. Koji Doi [5]

-. Daichi Hashimoto [5]

5. Yuko Miyamoto [4]

6. Tsugataka Sato [2]