Junya Matsunaga & Hayabusa Set Their Sights on the ~AFTER THE FIRE~ Encore Rumble at ZERO1 Fire Festival 2026 Final

By: Ian McCord

On August 7th, Pro Wrestling ZERO1 will make its return to the legendary Korakuen Hall for the Finals of the 2026 Fire Festival tournament.

With the finals between Masato Tanaka and Katsuhiko Nakajima set for the main event, the remaining tournament competitors will also have the opportunity to make an impact at Korakuen. ZERO1 announced that an Encore Rumble dubbed ~AFTER THE FIRE~ will take place at the event. The 10 remaining participants from this year’s Fire Festival will battle for the chance to win a 1 million yen prize.

Here are the competitors in the ~AFTER THE FIRE~ Encore Rumble:

• Ryunosuke Nagai
• Tsugataka Sato
• Yuko Miyamoto
• Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
• Kuma Arashi
• Koji Doi
• Daichi Hashimoto
• Shuji Ishikawa
• Hayabusa
• Junya Matsunaga

ZERO1 World Heavyweight Champion Junya Matsunaga and Hayabusa, two men who fell short of making it to the finals of this year’s Fire Festival, took to their respective X accounts to state their intentions of winning the Encore Rumble.

From Junya Matsunaga via X:

“With the frustration of not making it to the finals still fresh in my mind, I’m definitely going to win this Rumble. I wonder what I’ll do with 1 million yen…”

From Hayabusa via X:

“1 million yen… That’s very tempting, but whether there’s a prize or not, I’ve decided I’m going to win this Rumble. Three days left until the Korakuen Hall event. The fun is just about to begin.”

(All English Translations via DeepL)

Both men will have the chance to walk away with a solid payday on August 7th for ZERO1’s Fire Festival 2026 Final at Korakuen Hall.

Here is the full card for the Fire Festival 2026 Final:

• Takuya Sugawara vs. Takaki Iwasaki
• 4-Way Tag Team Match: Hide Kubota & Yasu Kubota vs. Brian Ishizaka & Kota Sekifuda vs. Violent Jack  & Mammoth Sasaki vs. CIMA & So Daimonji
• Naruki Doi & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Vent Vert Jack & Yuki Toki
• ~AFTER THE FIRE~ Encore Rumble
• Rose World Title Match: RIKO (c) vs. Miku Kanae
• Fire Festival 2026 Final Match: Masato Tanaka vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima