Dragon Gate kicked off the 2023 Rey De Parejas Tournament, a tag team tournament being held for the first time since the late 2010s in part due to the coronavirus pendemic.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 1198. Vocal cheering was allowed and presumably capacity restrictions were lifted following recent government actions, but both can still be restricted by venues especially for where decisions were previously made.
Match 1: Shun Skywalker, KAI & Diamante beat Shuji Kondo, Eita & Takashi Yoshida. Skywalker pinned Yoshida after a moonsault kneedrop.
Match 2: JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Kaito Nagano.
Match 3: Jason Lee beat Yoshiki Kato.
Match 4: Rey De Parejas Block B: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Strong Machine J & F. Movhizuki pinned F with Jumbo Pin.
Match 5: Rey De Parejas Block A: Masaaki Mochizuki & Mochizuki Jr. beat H-Y-O & ISHIN. Mochizuki pinned H-Y-O after a reverse Twister.
Match 6: Ultimo Dragon, Ben-K & Minorita beat Genki Horigucho, Kagetora & Ho Ho Lun. Ben-K pinned Horiguchi after Masakari.
Main Event: Rey De Parejas Block A: Yuki Yoshioka & Madoka Kikuta vs. BxB Hulk & Kota Minoura went to a 20 minute time limit draw.
The next event is tomorrow at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.
In other news, the promotion announced their Golden Week blowout event, DEAD OR ALIVE 2023, for 5/5 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. (Golden Week is a week-long national holiday in Japan, generally it’s the first week of May. Almost every promotion, both major ones and smaller independents, hold either a big event or for the smaller ones their biggest event of the year during this week)
