[Mecca]

On June 16, 2000, a press conference was held at Differ Ariake, a new 1,800-seat building built specifically for pro wrestling in the Ariake suburb of Tokyo, where Misawa announced for formation of his new promotion, with 26 of the company’s 28 full-time native wrestlers aligning with him. Only Kawada and Masa Fuchi stayed with All Japan. The foreigners had largely been kept in the dark, and all the main veterans who were under contract to All Japan stayed loyal to the group, with the exception of Vader. Johnny Ace, who was practically office, saw the lay of the land better than most and established an escape route, getting a job behind-the-scenes in helping to lay out matches with World Championship Wrestling, which directly led to him being hired as Jim Ross’ assistant in talent relations when WCW went down.

Three days later, NTV announced that the final All Japan TV show on the network would be June 21, 2000, a 45 minute special, where they would announce why they were canceling the show. They announced that starting a week later, they would do a weekly show called “Coliseo,” which largely focused on news about K-1 and clips of Misawa and his wrestlers until they started broadcasting the NOAH matches.

Misawa recognized he was past his prime, and Kobashi, the other top star, was plagued with injuries to his knees and elbows. In the last few years with All Japan, Akiyama had come into his own as a top performer, and the first big move Misawa made in the formation of the new promotion was to have Akiyama beat both Misawa and Kobashi to establish him as the top star to carry the company.

Pro Wrestling NOAH debuted on August 5, 2000, at Differ Ariake, using a trademark green colored ring, based on Misawa as the face of the company, since his trademark were his green long tights. The first night couldn’t have been more of a success. Of course, starting in an 1,800-seat arena instead of Budokan Hall was to create an illusion. Tickets sold out in minutes. Scalpers outside the building on the night of the show were getting $2,700 for the $60 ringside seats and $800 for standing room.

The main event was a two of three falls match, where the winning team would then face each other in a singles match the next night. Kobashi & Akiyama won two straight falls from Misawa & Akira Taue. Akiyama made Misawa pass out in just 2:00 using a guillotine, a move that had not been used for decades as a finisher in pro wrestling. Misawa sold it as if he was out cold from the choke and laid their motionless. To put over the hold, Misawa was given CPR as a work at ringside to revive him, making the weird coincidence of the same scene in his first and last match in the company,

Akiyama then pinned Taue in 17:45 to win the second fall. As the referee held Kobashi & Akiyama’s hands up, Akiyama then laid out Kobashi with a back suplex.

The next night, in a symbolic move, Kobashi, who held the Triple Crown title for All Japan at the time of the split, never losing it, thus having the aura as being the “real” world champion, was pinned by Akiyama in 24:25. Just before they left All Japan, Misawa booked Akiyama to beat him in a high profile singles match at Budokan Hall, the arena he was king in and where he rarely lost.

The first night saw Misawa & Taue observe a gentleman’s agreement not to attack Kobashi’s bad knees, but the second night, the story of the match was Akiyama violating it, working the knees for much of the match, and finishing Kobashi with the guillotine. Kobashi also passed out, and was left selling that he was unconscious for two minutes to get Akiyama and his new move over.

But Pro Wrestling NOAH soon struggled after the original novelty wore off. Misawa became the first GHC heavyweight champion so Akiyama could beat him one more time, and people would see it as Akiyama beating an established world champion to get the title, as opposed to being the first champion. While Akiyama was tremendous in the role of the young wrestler nipping at the heels of the big stars, as the top guy, for whatever reason, it didn’t work. As a young challenger, he possessed the fire to get the crowd behind him, but somehow as champion and as the top star, no matter how strong he was pushed, he never established the level of credibility to thrive in that role.

The company really started taking off with the Misawa title win over Yoshihiro Takayama on September 23, 2002. Takayama was at the peak of his stardom because his match a few months earlier on a Pride show with Don Frye became one of the most famous fights in Japanese history. Off that fight, since every sports fan in the country heard about it and ended up seeing it in one of its million replays, Takayama had become the biggest star in Japanese pro wrestling, and Misawa was an established legend, bringing a full house to Budokan Hall.

This win gave the title the credibility of world titles of the past in pro wrestling. When Misawa dropped the title on March 1, 2003, to Kobashi, it was the final passing of the torch. Fans at that point took Kobashi as the biggest star in the promotion, and in Japanese wrestling, as he had the charisma and ability to bring out emotion as a top guy that Akiyama lacked. His two-year reign as champion was an incredible success, particularly for a guy who looked to be through two years earlier. But the problem was, Kobashi’s body had been ravaged by all those incredible matches. But from that point on, the ups and downs of the company had largely coincided with the health of Kobashi and his ability to be used in the top position.