Departure (2004)

Departure was a major professional wrestling event produced by Pro Wrestling Noah. The event took place on July 10, 2004 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, and marked Noah's first ever show in the arena.

The main event was marketed as the culmination of the long running feud between former allies and tag team partners Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, then held by Kobashi. Beginning on Noah's very first show in 2000 and having spanned over four years since then, it marked the first time Akiyama and Kobashi had faced off in singles competition since December 23rd 2000, where Kenta Kobashi defeated Jun Akiyama, avenging his loss against Akiyama from August 6th 2000. Which made this match the 3rd meeting between the two in Noah, and made this match a tiebreaker of sorts.

In other major matches on the event, All Japan Pro Wrestling's Keiji Mutoh and Taiyo Kea made their first ever appearances in the promotion, facing former AJPW wrestlers Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. This marked the first ever co-operative match between All Japan and Noah since Misawa had left AJPW to form the latter four years earlier. Yoshinobu Kanemaru also defended the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against Jushin Thunder Liger. The show also featured participation from New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), with IWGP Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama defending the titles against Takeshi Rikio and Takeshi Morishima.