Rey De Parejas

**Rey De Parejas** (レイ・デ・パレハス, *Rei de Parehasu*) (Spanish for the "King of Pairs") is a round-robin tag team tournament held by Dragon Gate (DG). It was created in 2003, and held annually by Toryumon Japan to determine the strongest team in the promotion for the year. The tournament would be held over the course of several shows in October and November. Following the tournament's conclusion, several shows that followed would continue on under the *Rey De Parejas* tour name.

The Rey De Parejas is held under a round-robin system, with two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The teams finishing on top the points standings in the two blocks advance to the knockout stage, where the winner is determined in a head-to-head match. Matches in the Rey De Parejas have a 20-minute time limit, which is the same as matches for Dragon Gate's Open The Twin Gate Championship.

Following the Toryumon split the tournament was rebranded to three teams tournament in 2004 and It was succeeded by Toryumon Japan's successor Dragon Gate's Summer Adventure Tag League, though it changed its format from round-robin to single-elimination, before being revived in 2023, following the end of the former.

## List of winners

 2023 | D'Courage (Yuki Yoshioka and Madoka Kikuta)

## History

The tournament was formed in 2003 by the then-Toryumon Japan, where it was a round-robin tournament. The winner, assuming they are not already the champion, receives an opportunity to wrestle for the Open The Twin Gate Championship not long after the tournament is over. Before, the tournament used to to determine the strongest team (trios in 2004) in the promotion.

The second edition of the tournament was to establish the first Open The Triangle Gate Championships which were the spiritual successor to the UWA World Trios Championships since the split between Último Dragón and the then rebranded Dragon Gate after he Dragón took the Toryumon name and trademarks with him since he owned the rights. However, since then, the tournament was not held for the next two decades being later replaced by the Summer Adventure Tag League, which briefly replaced the Rey De Parejas from 2007 until 2016, which was the last time the tournament was held. During its brief time, the tournament was often used as a platform to push their rising tag teams.

On January 13, 2023, Dragon Gate's general manger Ryo Saito announced the return of the tournament, with the tournament being held from February 3 until March 2.

## Results

### 2003

The first Rey De Parejas took place over the course of eleven days from October 5 until October 26, 2003. In this year's league, there were eight participants broken up into single blocks. The points leaders from each block received entry into the tournament.

 Machine #1 and Machine #2 | 2

### 2004

The 2004 Rey De Parejas took place over the course of 20 days from October 3-November 8, 2004. This year featured three teams single block format and was contested for the inaugural Open The Triangle Gate Championship wich was created following the Toryumon split to replace the UWA World Trios Championship. Touru Owashi was originally in the tournament but Shuji Kondo replaced him. During the tournament Magnum was replaced by Ryo Saito. Final M2K (K-ness, Masaaki Mochizuki and Susumu Yokosuka), Do FIXER (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito) and Italian Connection (Milano Collection AT, Anthony W. Mori and YOSSINO) were tied with 6 points and it was done a three way elimination match and the winners would face Aagan Iisou (Shuji Kondo, Takuya Sugawara and "brother" YASSHI) in the finals. Italian Connection defeated Do FIXER and Final M2K to face Aagan Iisou at the finals.

Final standings
 Michael Iwasa, Daniel Mishima and Johnson Florida(Florida Express) | 4

#### Three-way decision match

 2
 Winners:

### 2023

After a two-decade break, the return of the tournament was announced by Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito and will take place from Febraury 3 to March 2, 2023, with the tournament returning to its tag team format, instead of the trios one used in 2004.

 Yuki Yoshioka and Madoka Kikuta | 6
 H.Y.O and ISHIN | 5
 Jason Lee and Jacky "Funky" Kamei | 5
 Masaaki Mochizuki and Mochizuki Junior | 4
 Kaito Nagano and Yoshiki Kato | 3