Departure was a professional wrestling tour, produced by the Japanese Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) promotion. The tour took place between August 26 and September 9, 2001, with shows taking place in Chiba, Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka, Kyoto, Shizuoka. Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, and Niigata. The tour featured two title matches for GHC Heavyweight and GHC Junior Heavyweight Championships. This was the second event under the Departure name.
Production[]
Storylines[]
The Departure (2001) involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Statistics[]
| Date | City | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 26, 2001 | Togane, Chiba | Togane Arena | 1,700 |
| August 27, 2001 | Tokyo | Korakuen Hall | 2,100 |
| August 28, 2001 | Tokyo | Korakuen Hall | 2,100 |
| August 30, 2001 | Kasugai, Aichi | City Gymnasium | 2,100 |
| August 31, 2001 | Osaka | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2 | 1,800 |
| September 1, 2001 | Kyoto | KBS Hall | 1,500 |
| September 2, 2001 | Shizuoka | Twin Messe | 2,400 |
| September 4, 2001 | Tagajo, Miyagi | General Gymnasium | 1,600 |
| September 5, 2001 | Morioka, Iwate | Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium | 3,100 |
| September 6, 2001 | Aomori | Aomori Budokan | 1,700 |
| September 8, 2001 | Nagaoka, Niigata | Welfare Hall | 2,600 |
| September 9, 2001 | Tokyo | Differ Ariake | 1,800 |
Results[]
Night 1[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Superstar Steve defeated KENTA | Singles match | 10:28 |
| 2 | Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota defeated Haruka Eigen and Kishin Kawabata | Tag Team match | 8:21 |
| 3 | Tsuyoshi Kikuchi defeated Matt Murphy | Singles match | 10:43 |
| 4 | Scorpio, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan vs. Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako ended in a no contest | Six-Man Tag Team match | 13:38 |
| 5 | Vader, Bison Smith and Bull Schmitt defeated Tamon Honda, Takuma Sano and Takashi Sugiura | Six-Man Tag Team match | 12:17 |
| 6 | Daisuke Ikeda, Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Six-Man Tag Team match | 20:28 |
| 7 | Akira Taue, Junji Izumida and Masao Inoue defeated Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Kentaro Shiga | Six-Man Tag Team match | 20:03 |
Night 2[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Satoru Asako and Kishin Kawabata | Tag Team match | 14:11 |
| 2 | Haruka Eigen, Tamon Honda and Masao Inoue defeated Rusher Kimura, Mitsuo Momota and KENTA | Six-Man Tag Team match | 10:41 |
| 3 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa defeated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Takashi Sugiura | Tag Team match | 10:10 |
| 4 | Yoshinari Ogawa and Takuma Sano defeated Scorpio and Superstar Steve | Tag team match | 12:22 |
| 5 | Akira Taue and Junji Izumida defeated Bison Smith and Matt Murphy | Tag team match | 9:48 |
| 6 | Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Tag team match | 11:54 |
| 7 | No Fear (Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama) defeated Vader and Bull Schmitt | Tag team match | 10:05 |
| 8 | Daisuke Ikeda, Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Makoto Hashi | Six-man tag team match | 14:22 |
Night 3[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haruka Eigen and Junji Izumida defeated Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota | Tag Team match | 9:59 |
| 2 | Satoru Asako and Kishin Kawabata defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa | Tag Team match | 11:24 |
| 3 | Sternness (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Makoto Hashi) defeated Scorpio and Superstar Steve | Tag Team match | 12:48 |
| 4 | Yoshinari Ogawa and Takuma Sano defeated Bull Schmitt and Matt Murphy | Tag team match | 12:19 |
| 5 | Bison Smith defeated Masao Inoue | Singles match | 8:50 |
| 6 | Akira Taue, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Takashi Sugiura defeated Daisuke Ikeda, Takeshi Rikio and KENTA | Six-Man Tag Team match | 16:17 |
| 7 | No Fear (Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama) defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Tag team match | 14:35 |
| 8 | Tamon Honda defeated Takeshi Morishima | Singles match; #1 Contender for GHC Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi Final | 6:21 |
| 9 | Sternness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Kentaro Shiga) defeated Vader, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan | Six-man tag team match | 12:19 |
Night 4[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota defeated Haruka Eigen and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | Tag Team match | 10:25 |
| 2 | Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Tag Team match | 12:35 |
| 3 | Bull Schmitt and Bison Smith defeated Kentaro Shiga and Makoto Hashi | Tag Team match | 7:45 |
| 4 | Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan defeated Takuma Sano and Masashi Aoyagi | Tag team match | 10:56 |
| 5 | Vader and Scorpio defeated Daisuke Ikeda and Takashi Sugiura | Tag team match | 10:26 |
| 6 | No Fear (Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako) defeated Akira Taue, Junji Izumida and Masao Inoue | Six-Man Tag Team match | 19:21 |
| 7 | Sternness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Six-man tag team match | 20:32 |
Night 5[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Takeshi Morishima defeated Makoto Hashi | Singles match | 8:06 |
| 2 | Haruka Eigen, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Junji Izumida defeated Masao Inoue, Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota | 10:30 | |
| 3 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated KENTA | Singles match | 7:53 |
| 4 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Naohiro Hoshikawa | Singles match | 11:17 |
| 5 | Yoshinari Ogawa and Takuma Sano defeated Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Tag Team match | 7:26 |
| 6 | Vader, Scorpio and Bull Schmitt defeated Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan and Bison Smith | Six-man Tag team match | 11:31 |
| 7 | Daisuke Ikeda defeated Takeshi Rikio by referee stoppage | Singles match; #1 Contender for GHC Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi Final | 7:29 |
| 8 | Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji defeated Akira Taue and Takashi Sugiura | Tag team match | 13:34 |
| 9 | No Fear (Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako) defeated Sternness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Kentaro Shiga) | Six-Man Tag Team match | 14:25 |
Night 6[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sternness (Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Satoru Asako and Masashi Aoyagi | Tag Team match | 12:42 |
| 2 | Haruka Eigen and Makoto Hashi defeated Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota | Tag Team match | 10:58 |
| 3 | Michael Modest, Donovan Morgan and Matt Murphy defeated Takeshi Morishima, Takeshi Rikio and KENTA | Six-man Tag Team match | 11:25 |
| 4 | Vader, Scorpio and Superstar Steve defeated Junji Izumida, Masao Inoue and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | Six-man Tag team match | 8:44 |
| 5 | Sternness (Jun Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito) defeated Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Tag team match | 14:54 |
| 6 | Mitsuharu Misawa and Takuma Sano defeated Bull Schmitt and Bison Smith | Tag Team match | 14:43 |
| 7 | Tamon Honda defeated Daisuke Ikeda by referee stoppage | Singles match; #1 Contender for GHC Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final | 12:16 |
| 8 | No Fear (Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama) defeated Akira Taue and Takashi Sugiura | Tag team match | 12:47 |
Night 7[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daisuke Ikeda defeated Masashi Aoyagi by referee stoppage | Singles match | 11:16 |
| 2 | Takashi Sugiura, Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota defeated Haruka Eigen, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Makoto Hashi | Six-man Tag Team match | 13:52 |
| 3 | Sternness (Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Tag Team match | 14:07 |
| 4 | Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa | Tag team match | 12:11 |
| 5 | Scorpio, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan defeated Yoshinari Ogawa, Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA | Six-man Tag team match | 11:29 |
| 6 | Mitsuharu Misawa and Takuma Sano defeated Akira Taue and Junji Izumida | Tag Team match | 12:16 |
| 7 | Tamon Honda and Masao Inoue defeated Sternness (Jun Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito) | Tag Team match | 5:26 |
| 8 | Vader, Bull Schmitt and Bison Smith defeated No Fear (Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako) | Six-man tag team match | 7:12 |
Night 8[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Makoto Hashi | Singles match | 11:20 |
| 2 | Takashi Sugiura and Haruka Eigen defeated Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota | Tag Team match | 9:16 |
| 3 | Junji Izumida and Masao Inoue defeated Takuma Sano and Masahi Aoyagi | Tag Team match | 15:48 |
| 4 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa defeated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and KENTA | Tag team match | 13:24 |
| 5 | Daisuke Ikeda, Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Bison Smith, Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Six-man tag team match | 13:07 |
| 6 | Sternness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Kentaro Shiga) defeated Scorpio, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan | Six-man Tag team match | 17:26 |
| 7 | Tamon Honda and Akira Taue defeated Vader and Bull Schmitt | Tag Team match | 8:05 |
| 8 | No Fear (Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako) defeated Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Six-man tag team match | 23:13 |
Night 9[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Makoto Hashi and KENTA | Tag Team match | 11:51 |
| 2 | Haruka Eigen and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi defeated Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota | Tag Team match | 7:36 |
| 3 | Sternness (Akitoshi Saito and Kentaro Shiga) defeated Takuma Sano and Masahi Aoyagi | Tag Team match | 9:54 |
| 4 | Daisuke Ikeda and Takashi Sugiura defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa | Tag team match | 14:15 |
| 5 | Akira Taue, Junji Izumida and Masao Inoue defeated Scorpio, Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Six-man tag team match | 13:49 |
| 6 | No Fear (Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama) defeated Bull Schmitt and Bison Smith | Tag Team match | 6:13 |
| 7 | Vader, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan defeated Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Six-man tag team match | 14:14 |
| 8 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) defeated Satoru Asako | Singles match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship | 23:27 |
| 9 | Jun Akiyama (c) defeated Tamon Honda | Singles match for the GHC Heavyweight Championship | 17:58 |
Night 10[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota defeated Haruka Eigen and Masashi Aoyagi | Tag Team match | 9:15 |
| 2 | Bison Smith defeated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | Singles match | 5:58 |
| 3 | Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA defeated Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Tag Team match | 14:44 |
| 4 | Sternness (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Makoto Hashi) defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa | Tag team match | 17:53 |
| 5 | Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan defeated Tamon Honda and Takashi Sugiura | Tag team match | 12:27 |
| 6 | Daisuke Ikeda, Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio) defeated No Fear (Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako) | Six-man Tag Team match | 17:55 |
| 7 | Vader, Scorpio and Bull Schmitt defeated Akira Taue, Junji Izumida and Masao Inoue | Six-man tag team match | 11:18 |
| 8 | Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Takuma Sano defeated Sternness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Kentaro Shiga) | Six-man tag team match | 18:11 |
Night 11[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KENTA defeated Matt Murphy | Singles match | 9:25 |
| 2 | Bull Schmitt defeated Takashi Sugiura | Singles match | 6:34 |
| 3 | Rusher Kimura, Mitsuo Momota and Naomichi Marufuji defeated Haruka Eigen, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Masashi Aoyagi | Six-man tag team match | 12:45 |
| 4 | Tamon Honda defeated Superstar Steve | Singles match | 7:26 |
| 5 | No Fear (Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako) defeated Sternness (Akitoshi Saito, Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Six-man tag team match | 16:21 |
| 6 | Scorpio and Bison Smith defeated Sternness (Jun Akiyama and Makoto Hashi) | Tag team match | 13:30 |
| 7 | Daisuke Ikeda, Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Vader, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan | Six-man tag team match | 11:41 |
| 8 | Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Takuma Sano defeated Akira Taue, Junji Izumida and Masao Inoue | Six-man tag team match | 22:48 |
Night 12[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satoru Asako defeated KENTA | Singles match | 9:06 |
| 2 | Haruka Eigen, Junji Izumida and Kishin Kawabata defeated Rusher Kimura, Mitsuo Momota and Makoto Hashi | Six-man tag team match | 14:32 |
| 3 | Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan defeated Matt Murphy and Superstar Steve | Tag team match | 10:03 |
| 4 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Naohiro Hoshikawa defeated Sternness (Akitoshi Saito and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Tag team match | 18:44 |
| 5 | Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio defeated Bull Schmitt and Bison Smith | Tag team match | 12:38 |
| 6 | Yoshinari Ogawa and Takuma Sano defeated Akira Taue and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | Tag team match | 14:12 |
| 7 | No Fear (Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama) defeated Daisuke Ikeda and Takashi Sugiura | Tag team match | 10:34 |
| 8 | Tamon Honda and Masao Inoue defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji | Tag team match | 19:42 |
| 9 | Vader and Scorpio defeated Sternness (Jun Akiyama and Kentaro Shiga) | Tag team match | 10:30 |