Mike Reviews Pro Wrestling NOAH Departure 2000
By Michael Fitzgerald on 8 August 2025
Happy Head Dropping Friday Everyone!
Today we’re watching the debut show of Pro Wrestling NOAH all the way back in the year 2000. NOAH came about due to a split between the top stars of All Japan Pro Wrestling and Mrs. “Dragon Lady” Baba following the death of Giant Baba, with Mitsuharu Misawa leading an exodus to form a new company. They went with the NOAH name because it was like they were setting off on an epic journey, hence why this show is called Departure. It’s never explained if Misawa and co tried to take two of every wrestler with them though, although the thought of two identical Akira Taue’s forming the world’s most clumsiest tag team certainly sounds like it would be fun.
Debut shows can sometimes be a bit tricky, but lets see how NOAH do when they have their chance to make a first impression with Departure
You can view the full card for Departure by clicking below;
Departure is emanating from the Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan on the 5th of August 2000. The Differ Ariake was kind of like NOAH’s home arena, and I believe it might have either been built with them in mind or they basically adopted early on to be like their own version of Korakuen Hall
The roster joins us in the ring to start the show, with company president Mitsuharu Misawa leading the way. I don’t speak Japanese sadly, but the situation feels like it has real gravitas and the crowd responds well to Misawa’s comments on the mic
Match One
Takeshi Morishima Vs Makoto Hashi
Morishima would end up wearing the top belt in NOAH later on in the 2000’s, whilst Hashi was a dependable mid-card guy who would often wrestle in the Junior Heavyweight division. They’re both quite young here though, with this being more of a Young Lion match seeing as both of them debuted for All Japan back in March 1998. Morishima would end up being a pretty hefty Terry Gordy lookalike, but he’s a lot more slender here. They start out like they’re going to have your basic Young Lion trading of holds match, but then the fight quickly heads out to the floor and Hashi gets a bulldog out there before tying Morishima up in the ropes and delivering some Mongolian Chops.
The crowd responds well to the two younger lads actually trying to have a proper scrap here and they seem to enjoy the match. Eventually we get some working of holds back in the ring, and that all looks good, as most Japanese companies won’t even let you get near a ring until you can at least do the basics competently. Hashi mostly works over Morishima’s arm with strikes and basic arm based holds, with it being solid, if not especially thrilling, work. Morishima eventually manages to catch Hashi OUTTA NOWHERE with a bodyslam and starts fighting back with knees to the gut and a nasty looking Abdominal Stretch/Stretch Plum combo hold. We get the trading of headbutt’s at one stage, because of course we do, and the crowd starts to buzz a bit for that, because of course they do.
It’s back and forth in the closing stages, with it even heading out to the floor again so that Hashi can get his signature diving headbutt off the apron to the floor, which gets an audible “OOWAHHH” from the crowd. Hashi manages to get another diving headbutt back inside the ring, but Morishima actually kicks out to the mild shock of the crowd. Morishima looks to counter a missile dropkick into some kind of slam and then fires back with an X-Factor before getting an Electric Chair Drop for a two of his own, as the crowd is now getting quite invested in this. Hashi even gets to kick-out of a Lariat at one stage, as they’re really going for it here. Morishima eventually manages to get his Amaze Impact reverse Choke Slam styled move though and that’s enough for three.
WINNER: TAKESHI MORISHIMA
RATING: ***1/4
Thoughts: This was two younger guys using the chance they were in a new company so show that neither was just a standard Young Lion anymore, as they both threw down for 14 minutes and had a really enjoyable match that the live crowd got pretty invested in at the end. A very good way to kick off a new promotion
Match Two
Haruka Eigen, Jun Izumida and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Vs Mitsuo Momota, Rusher Kimura and Takeshi Rikio
We go from two youngsters to five experienced veterans and Takeshi Rikio. Eigen and Momota would often oppose one another either in singles or tag matches, and it would usually be entertaining even if the actual wrestling wasn’t always great. Rikio also went on to become the top champ in NOAH when he was chosen to end Kenta Kobashi’s record two year reign in 2005. Sadly it didn’t work out for him, but NOAH were trying to make a new star at least. Eigen’s trademark spot is that he spits when he gets chopped in the chest, so of course we get that at one stage, with poor Izumida getting caught with the spit when it happens in an always funny gag.
The focus here is mostly on comedy when the older guys like Kimura, Momota, Eigen and Kikuchi are in there, whilst Izumida and Rikio work a slightly more serious match when they are in there. Kimura can basically do nothing here, and he spends most of his time in the ring stalling and getting slapped around by the opposition team without really doing much in reply. The exchanges between Izumida and Rikio are mostly snug hard-hitting stuff, and there’s a period where Rikio ends up in the opposition corner and gets worked over, which is what you’d expect considering that Rikio was only a few months into his career at this stage, so tradition dictated that he mostly get clobbered.
Eigen and Momota get to do a proper bit together, and it’s the bit of the match the crowd is most into, especially when Momota unleashes a series of slaps in the corner at one stage. Eigen even teases busting out a TOPE SUICIDA at one stage, but Momota slowly walks away and Eigen gets cold feet in a funny moment. Kimura finally does something by delivering a slow-motion clothesline on Kikuchi, although it doesn’t quite get the reaction they want. I think they were hoping the crowd would explode at actually seeing Kimura do something, but instead they were kind of just like “Oh, Kimura did a badly executed move did he? Cool I guess”.
Rikio comes back in to get destroyed some more, although he does get to do a little bit against Kikuchi first and it looks fine. Izumida ends up catching Rikio with a Diamond Cutter though, and that’s enough for the win after about 13 minutes. That’s Japan folks, even if your opponents are basically dust, if they’ve had more hot dinners than you then that means you lie down until you’ve wrestled long enough for the rules of logic to finally apply.
WINNERS: EIGEN, IZUMIDA & KIKUCHI
RATING: *1/2
Thoughts: Standard undercard comedy tag stuff, with a few more hard-hitting moments when the younger guys were in there. Kimura looked pretty old and frail here, but he’d still wrestle sporadically for another three years, which is kind of crazy as he basically couldn’t do anything here. Eigen and Momota actually looked pretty good considering their respective ages. Kikuchi had it in lower gear, which was most of his matches past about 1995 unless it was a special occasion
Match Three
Masao Inoue and Yoshinobu Kanemaru Vs Kentaro Shiga and Naomichi Marufuji
Inoue is a bit of a lower mid-card lump, whilst Kanemaru, Shiga and Marufuji were pencilled in to be stars in NOAH’s Junior Heavyweight division, to varying degrees of success. Inoue looks to have “Star F—er” on the front of his gear, which is probably one of those charming “Japanese people using English text and not really knowing what it means” moments. This one is worked at a pretty quick clip in places as it’s there as a showcase for the lighter weight division. Kanemaru and Marufuji in particular have some high tempo exchanges of counters that look good. Inoue is mostly in there to hit people and be hit in kind, as he doesn’t really fit the Junior Heavyweight category. Shiga technically should fit the criteria, but he doesn’t really do much in the way of exciting high-flying or flashy wrestling, and is quite a basic meat and potatoes guy. This is probably why Shiga is never really thought of in the same breath as the Marufuji, Kanemaru, KENTA, Ricky Marvin, Ishimori, Suigara and Kotaro Suzki group who were competing over the Junior Heavyweight Title during the 2000’s in NOAH, as they were either exciting high flyers or really good workers, whilst Shiga kind of just exists.
Inoue and Kanemaru work over Marufuji for a bit, with Marufuji selling it well and making sporadic attempts to fight back. Marufuji looks to get his nose busted a bit at one stage, which is how you know that they’re laying this in. Marufuji eventually catches Inoue with a rana and tags in Shiga, who runs wild and actually looks good, even busting out a Diamond Cutter on Inoue at one stage. I had no idea that Shiga had such a good hot tag in his locker. Shiga and Marufuji even do The Hardy Boyz spot of Marufuji leaping off Shiga’s back to attack Inoue in the corner. Marufuji gets some near falls on Inoue, but a Kanemaru cheap shot allows Inoue to get a near fall from a Lariat, as apparently we’re back to beating up Marufuji again. Heel miscommunication sees Inoue accidentally give a Lariat to Kanemaru at one stage in a funny spot. Kanemaru recovers and gives Shiga a mule kick though, but Shiga eventually catches Kanemaru in a cross arm breaker for the submission win.
WINNERS: MARUFUJI & SHIGA
RATING: **3/4
Thoughts: They probably spent a bit too long working over Marufuji with dull basic offence, but once they kicked it into a higher gear and everyone got involved it ended up becoming a reasonably fun match
Marufuji and Shiga send the heels packing with stereo dropkicks when they try and start the fight up again post-match
Match Four
Daisuke Ikeda, Masahito Kakihara and Yoshinari Ogawa Vs NO FEAR (Satoru Asako, Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama)
Ikeda has a massive Final Fantasy styled sword with him here, which gives his entrance some flavour at least. I do like how Ikeda would wear the usual shooter attire of black trunks, boots and kick-pads, but he’d go with red kick-pads just so he didn’t look quite as generic. Ikeda and Kakihara are shoot style guys, whilst Ogawa is the “Rat Boy” and likes poking people in the eyes before going for roll-ups. Takayama is another shoot style guy who sadly suffered a very serious injury later on his career. Omori was someone who was being primed for being one of the top guys in the promotion, but called for an early finish to a match he was having with Shinya Hashimoto and that was it for him as any sort of a pushed commodity in NOAH. Asako was a long-time lighter weight wrestler in All Japan who jumped along to NOAH. No Fear usually wear all black, but they’re wearing all white today and crowd pops for it. I’m not sure if they’d all recently bleached their hair either. Takayama was known for the blond hair during the 2000’s but this could have been one of the first instances of it.
Kakihara is always someone who I’ve liked, although he had to retire early due to illness and never really got the push he should have done in All Japan due to his size. This one is all stiff strikes all of the time, with Kakihara DESTROYING Omori early on with punches in the corner, showing that Kakihara could be a believable bad ass even when he was in there with bigger guys. Takayama and Kakihara tangle at one stage early on of course, and that’s plenty stiff as well with Kakihara soon showing the effects of it on his face. Takayama is basically the tank for his team, as he ploughs through everyone and the crowd reacts to all of it like they’re seeing one of Lord Zed’s monsters smash up Angel Grove. Ogawa gets separated and worked over for a bit, with him taking a trademark hellacious beating, with the only respite coming from him cheap shotting his opponents when the opportunity allows. Ikeda eventually has to come in illegally and help Ogawa, but even then Takayama is able to fend them both off in brutal fashion.
Team Ogawa tries doubling up on Omori next, and they have a bit more luck with that strategy leading to Omori getting worked over for a bit, and selling quite well actually. Omori is someone where if he was around in 2025 in his prime then I could see NXT possibly giving him a try because he has decent size and sells well, so they might have thought that they could have got something out of him. Asako actually does some decent highflying in this one at points, although he gets a little too fancy and Ikeda just ENDS him with a Lariat in a funny moment. All six wrestlers are soon drenched with sweat, as it can get incredibly hot in Japan during the summer and they are genuinely working pretty hard in there. Ikeda tries ending any hopes Asako has of ever walking again with some terrifyingly stiff leg kicks at one stage, but Asako seems to survive that and will at least be able to walk to a hospital should he continue to get destroyed here and they can’t get an ambulance quickly enough.
Sweat FLIES at one stage when Ogawa is trading strikes with Omori, as this continues to be an absolute war. Omori actually busts out his Full Nelson Slam move on Ogawa at one stage, which you can assign to your CAW in No Mercy on the N64 should you want to, but it doesn’t lead to the victory and everyone continues to keep hitting one another really hard, with Omori and Takayama teaming up for a double team elbow drop on Ikeda at one stage. Kakihara and Takayama have another violent exchange, with Kakihara actually putting Takayama briefly on the back-foot this time until Takayama floors him with a stiff strike of his own. Things breakdown, and that leaves Kakihara with Asako, which ends badly for Asako via cross arm breaker.
WINNERS: TEAM RAT BOY
RATING: ***1/4
Thoughts: This was stiffer than a teenage boy at a Miss World competition at points, as was the style at the time in Japan.
The brawl starts up again following the match, with NO FEAR laying out Team Ogawa, so I guess this feud will continue. That’s probably going to put some chiropractor’s kids through college in that case
Main Event
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
Akira Taue and Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Jun Akiyama and Kenta Kobashi
Sadly I don’t think the full version of this match is up anywhere so I’ll have to do the clipped version. These four were all part of the “All Japan Five” with Kawada, but Kawada decided to stay in All Japan so they’re symbolically starting the first NOAH show with these four to ram home the idea that this promotion is as much a continuation of the AJPW legacy as it is a new promotion in it’s own right. Akiyama shocks the crowd by beating Misawa within minutes with a Guillotine Choke, thus showing that Akiyama is someone you outta respect son. The shock from the crowd at Misawa going out so quickly is brilliant, and Misawa’s fired up response with elbows right at the start of the second fall like Kobashi and Akiyama just awakened a kraken is really well done. Misawa and Taue do manage to get some offence in following that, with Taue even busting out the Dynamic Bomb on Akiyama, but Kobashi breaks up the pin and then destroys both Misawa and Taue with a Powerbomb and Suplex respectively. Misawa responds with the Emerald Frosion on Kobashi, but Akiyama takes out both Misawa and Taue with Exploider Suplexes and then pins Taue.
WINNERS: KOBASHI & AKIYAMA IN STRAIGHT FALLS
RATING: N/A
Thoughts: I can’t really rate it because I didn’t get to see all of it, but what we did get to see looked like a lot of fun and the live crowd was having kittens for it all. It was a strong win for Akiyama in effort to make him look like the new NOAH Ace, but that didn’t really end up working out for him. Having him drop the big belt to Ogawa on a fluke and never crushing Ogawa in a rematch didn’t really help of course. Still, he knocked out Misawa here and then pinned Taue, so this was as strong a push as they could have given him at Departure
In Conclusion
It’s a shame I couldn’t track down the full 18 minutes of that Main Event, but Departure was a very good debut for NOAH and they’d spend the first half of the 2000’s having both critically and commercially successful shows
If you like reading about Japanese wrestling then I suggest the following archives
