NWA World Tag Team Championship

The territory years (1950-1982)

In 1948 six professional wrestling promoters in the United States joined together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a governing body for a number of different wrestling promotions, which then became known as the NWA territories. The promoters, Pinkie George, Al Haft, Tony Stecher, Harry Light, Orville Brown and Sam Muchnick) formed a Board of Directors and decided that they would endorse two wrestling championships that all territories would recognize, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Those two championships were controlled by the board, who would meet to vote on who should be given the championship next.

At the time Tag team wrestling, or matches where teams of two wrestlers would fight each other, was not popular across all territories at the time, so the Board of Directors did not sanction a specific NWA World Tag Team Championship. This meant that each territory was free to create their own "World Tag Team Championship" as they saw fit and use it within their territory without board approval. Tag team wrestling first rose to popularity on the west coast of the United States, which led to the Los Angeles territory, promoted by Johnny Doyle, created the first NWA World Tag Team Championship of the territory era when The Dusek Riot Squad (Emil and Ernie) was billed as the champions on a July 14, 1949 show in Long Beach. The following year the San Francicso territory followed suit and crated their local version of the championship when Ray Eckert and Hard Boiled Haggerty defeated the team of Ron Etchison and Larry Moquin on April 4, 1950. A month later month the Midwest Wrestling Association territory, covering Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa, created their own version of the championship on May 26, 1950 as The Dusek Riot Squad (Emil and Joe) won that championship.

In 1953 the Chicago based promoter Fred Kohler introduced the team of Lord James Blears and Lord Lathol Laytham as the local NWA World Tag Team Champions, billing them as having won the championship in a different NWA territory before they began working for Kohler. History records do not indicate that Blears and Laytham had actually won the championship elsewhere. From mid-1953 the championship became the main tag team championship of the Illinois/Wisconsin territory. A few months later promoter Ed Don George brought in the Chicago champions to his Ohio/Upstate New York territory and used them to bring an air of legitimacy to his own version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, allowing local wrestlers Bill Melby and Billy Darnell to defeat Blears and Martino Angelo (who substituted for an injured Athol).

In 1954 the Montreal, Québéc, Canada based Canadian Athletic Promotion used the NWA World Tag Team Championship name as well, but by the end of the year they had abandoned the championship. Also in 1954, Georgia Championship Wrestling introduced the Georgia version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, using the Chicago version (held by Reggie Lisowki and Art Neilson at the time, to start the Georgia branch.

The following year NWA founders Paul "Pinkie" George and Max Clayton introduced an Iowa / Nebraska version, with the champions splitting their time between George's Iowa territory and Clayton's Nebraska territory. The promoters billed Joe Tangaroa and Guy Brunetti as the local champions, recognizing the championship of the Chicago version up until September 1955, then splitting off in to their own lineage. 1955 was also the year that the first of two Texas based NWA World Tag Team Championships as the Amarillo, Texas based Big Time Wrestling, owned by Doc Sarpolis and Dory Funk. They followed in the footsteps of other NWA territories by having the Chicago champions (Lisowski and Neilsen) travel to their territory to lose a version of the championship to start the local version. In this case Neilsen worked regularly in the territory, while Lisowski left after only a brief stay. The promoters chose to have Rip Rogers replace Lisowski for the Amarillo version of the champions. Another version was introduced around 1955/1956 in the Idaho / Utah territory based out of Salt Lake City. The Indianapolis territory soon introduced another local version by recognizing the linage of the Chicago version, before splitting it off into a separate entity 1957 when Nicoli and Boris Volkoff won the championship.

Three additional versions of the championship was introduced in 1957, the first of which introduced in Minneapolis, where the The Kalmikoffs (Ivan and Karol) win a tournament to become champions. The second new championship was also the second Texas based championship as the eastern Texas based Houston/Dallas territory introduced Verne Gagne and Wilbur Snyder as their local champions. The third championship introduced in 1957 was used by Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America promotion when Gulas introduced The Corsicans (Corsica Joe and Corsica Jean) as champions when they made their debut for NWA Mid-America.

1958 and 1959 did not see any new championships active, but with all but the Montreal versions being active, saw a total of thirteen different versions being defended across the United States in 1957. In 1959/1960 the unity of the NWA was strained as several promotions broke away from the NWA, choosing to join with Minnesota promoter Verne Gagne to form the American Wrestling Alliance. This meant that the Minneapolis, Chicago, Iowa/Nebraska, Indianapolis and Idaho/Utah versions of the championship were all abandoned, replaced by the AWA World Tag Team Championship that was recognized in all territories.

While the NWA lost some territories with the exodus to the AWA others were added and additional NWA World Tag Team Championships were still being introduced. In 1961 Championship Wrestling from Florida created the Florida version of the championship. as The Von Brauners (Kurt and Karl Von Brauner became regular performers in Florida. In 1964 the Detroit based Big Time Wrestling announced that Chris and John Tolos had won the newly created Detroit version of the championship on February 16, 1965. In 1966 NWA All-Star Wrestling introduced their own version, but by 1967 the promotion discontinued using them in favor of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship.

In 1968 the Amarillo territory stopped using their version of the world championship, favoring the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship instead. Only months later the Eastern Texas version was abandoned as well, once more in favor of a more regional championship name, the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship. Georgia Championship Wrestling followed the trend in 1969, with the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship. By 1970 the Ohio/Upstate New York territory left the NWA and became known as the National Wrestling Federation, in the process they rebranded the tag team championship as it became known as the NWF World Tag Team Championship. No territory created a new world tag team championship until 1975 where the NWA Mid-Atlantic promotion in the Carolinas introduced The Mid-Atlantic version, the first new championship in nine years. This championship would later also be recognized by Georgia Championship Wrestling. In 1977 the NWA Mid-America territory was split in two as Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett takes over a large part of the territory when they create the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). After the territory splits NWA Mid-America abandons their version of the world tag team championship.

In 1979 the San Francisco version of the championship was abandoned, while Hollywood Wrestling reintroduced the Los Angeles version of the championship shortly afterwards. The same year the Central States version was abandoned, in favor of the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship. The Detroit territory closed it's doors in 1980, ending the Detroit version of the championship. In 1981 World Class Championship Wrestling briefly brings back the east Texas version of the championship, but later abandons it in favor of the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship .

One championship (1982-1991)

In 1982 the Los Angeles territory closed, abandoning their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. This meant that the Mid-Atlantic version of the championship became the only NWA World Tag Team Championship that was still active from that point forward. In 1980 MACW owner and promoter Jim Crockett Jr. became president of the NWA and started to consolidate the south eastern promotion, branding them as the "National Wrestling Alliance" while officially being known as Jim Crockett Promotions. The consolidation of the Crockett brand was done in part to combat the country-wide expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the early 1980s, breaking with the territory approach of the NWA. With JCP gaining national television deals the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship became a defacto "World" championship, moving from a regional championship and later recognized as a "World Championship" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, the premier wrestling magazine at the time.

In 1988 the cost of the rapid expansion of JCP forced Crockett to sell his promotion to Ted Turner. Turner began to re-brand the promotion as World Championship Wrestling, but still used the NWA prefix for all of their championships at that point in time. In January 1991 WCW officially split from the NWA spinning off the NWA Championships into WCW championships, which meant that then-reigning champions Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) became the first champions to officially be labelled as WCW World Tag Team Championship. At that point in time the NWA did not determine a new set of NWA World Tag Team Champions.

Officially sanctioned (1992-present)

A year after parting ways with the NWA, the two parties came to an agreement for WCW to host a tournament for the first ever officially board of directors sanctioned NWA World Tag Team Championship. To push the "world" aspect of the championship WCW and the NWA brought in several international teams for the tournament. Teams such as Sliver King and El Dandy from Mexico, Hiroshi Hase and Akira Nogami from Japan, Miguel Perez Jr. and Ricky Santana from Puerto Rico and Joe and Dean Malenko representing "Europe" The first round of the tournament took place on June 22, 1992 at WCW's Clash of the Champions XIX show, while the remaining tournament took place at the 1992 Great American Bash. In the period of time between the Clash and the Great American Bash the team of Terry Gordy and Steve Williams had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers, and when they won the tournament at the Great American Bash they became double champions, carrying two belts each for their matches.

WCW had five championship changes happen for the combined WCW/NWA World Tag Team Championships happen between July 1992 and August 1993, after which the NWA broke off their relationship with WCW once more. Then-champions Arn Anderson and Paul Roma were stripped of the NWA championship, a fact that was not mentioned on TV as they kept defending the WCW championship. While the NWA initially recognized the five WCW booked championship reigns, they later removed them from their official history.

The NWA did not hold a tournament for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship until almost two years later, holding a one night tournament on April 11, 1995. The tournament was won by The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), defeating the team of Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes in the finals.

World Wrestling Federation (1998)

In 1998 the NWA board of directors reached an agreement with the World Wrestling Federation to feature several of the NWA championships on WWF television as part of an "Invasion" storyline. For the purposes of the storyline the then-champions Pat and C.W. Anderson were stripped of the championship and instead the Rock 'n' Roll Express were named the new champions so they could work with the WWF. The storyline saw WWF wrestler Jeff Jarrett lead a group of "Old School" wrestlers representing the NWA, including Jarrett winning the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship. As part of the storyline the Rock 'n' Roll Express lost the tag team championship to WWF regulars The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) on February 17, 1998 during an episode of Raw is War. The Headbangers later lost the championship to The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart) as the NWA Invasion angle was being phased out.

On August 14, 1998 the New Midnight Express lost the championship to The Border Patrol (Agent Gunn and Agent Maxx), ending the association with the WWF. Over the following years the championship changed hands at various minor shows as well as the NWA 50th Anniversary Show where The Brotherhood (Knuckles Nelson and Erich Sbraccia) won the championship. In 2002 The Shane Twins (Mike and Todd) won the championship from The New Heavenly Bodies (Chris Nelson and Vito DeNucci).

Total Non-Stop Action (2002-2007)

In early 2002, Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett started a new promotion called NWA Total Non-Stop Action (NWA-TNA) based in Nashville. The Jarretts reached an agreement with the NWA board of directors to allow NWA-TNA to control both the singles and tag team versions of the world heavyweight championship. Both championships were vacated to allow NWA-TNA to hold tournaments for the new champions. On July 3, 2002 A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn defeated The Rainbow Express Bruce and Lenny in the finals of a tournament to win the championship. TNA controlled the championship from 2002 until May 2007, crowning a total of 32 champions in that period of time. At that point the NWA withdrew its recognition of NWA:TNA , which then rebranded itself "Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling" and created the TNA World Tag Team Championship.

Post TNA (2007-present)

With the championship vacant after the split from TNA, the National Wrestling Alliance arranged a three team tournament to determine the new champions. On July 8, 2007 The Real American Heroes (Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan defeated the teams of Billy Kidman/Sean Waltman and Incognito/Sicodelico Jr. in a three-way match to win the championship. On October 4, 2008 The Skullcrushers (Rache Brown and Keith Walker) defeated Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) to win the championship. This marked the start of a 777 day long reign, the longest in the championships history, lasting until November 20, 2010 where The Skullcrushers were defeated by The Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis.

In 2013 the NWA began working closely together with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), co-promoting shows and NJPW hosting several championship matches for both the heavyweight and tag team championships. On April 20, 2013 the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) defeated Scott Summers and Ryan Genesis to win the championship, the Killer Elite Squad was also the IWGP Tag Team Champions at the time of the title victory. On November 3, 2013 the The IronGodz (Jax Dane and Rob Conway) won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in a special two falls match that saw Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) with the IWGP championship in the other fall. Conway was the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him the first person to hold both championships at once. On April 6, 2014 Tencozy defeated the Iron Godz to win the NWA championship and would later lose those to the Killer Elite Squad on October 10, 2014. On October 15, 2015 The Heatseekers (Sigmon and Elliot Russel) won the championship on a show in Dyersburg.

Reigns

There has been 83 total officially recognized title reigns and five "unofficial reigns" from the time WCW controlled the championship. Rasche Brown and Keith Walker, known as the Skullkrushers, hold the record for longest reign, which lasted 777 days before they lost the belts to The Dark City Fight Club. The Skullkrushers, by virtue of such a lengthy run as champions, also hold the record for most cumulative days as champions, 35 days longer than the two reign of the Dark City Fight Club which totalled 742 days.

America's Most Wanted, (James Storm and Chris Harris), are the record holders for most reigns as a team with a total six. Harris and Storm also are tied for most individual reigns as champion, with both having seven total. In addition to holding the championship as a team, Harris held the championship with Elix Skipper while Storm held it with Christopher Daniels.

The current reigning champions are Kazushi Miyamoto and Rob Terry, who are in their first reign. They defeated The Iron Empire (Matt Riviera and Rob Conway) on February 23, 2017, in Tokyo, Japan. The championship change took place on a Diamond Star Wrestling show, NWA's new Japanese member.

1992

When the National Wrestling Alliance Board of Directors decided to finally endorse a NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1992 they reached out to World Championship Wrestling to organize the initial tournament as well give them the rights to control the championship on a day to day basis. WCW pulled together a 16-team tournament that saw seven teams made up of regular WCW competitors as well as teams from various countries such as Japan, Mexico, Canada and more. The eight matches of the first round all took place on June 16, 1992 at WCW's Clash of the Champions XIX. During the show WCW started a storyline feud between WCW's top tag team, the Steiner Brothers, and the favorite non-WCW team of Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, who had been one of the top teams in Japan for years prior to the tournament. During the show Gordy and Williams attacked the Steiners' opponents prior to the match, leading to the Steiners winning by forfeit. During the show the Steiners challenged Gordy and Williams to face them in the second round that night instead of waiting for the next round. In the main event of the Clash of Champions Gordy and Williams defeated the Steiner Brothers to advance to the semi-finals. In the month between the first round and the rest of the tournament Gordy and Williams defeated the Steiner Brothers to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

The finals took place at that year's The Great American Bash pay per view on July 12. For the second round Japanese wrestler Shinya Hashimoto replaced Akira Nogami who had been injured after he and Hiroshi Hase had qualified for the quarter-finals. Hase and Hashimoto defeated The Fabulous Freebirds in the semi-finals only to lose to Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the semi-final. In the other semi-final match Gordy and Williams defeated the team of Nikita Koloff and Ricky Steamboat, followed by Gordy and Williams defeating Rhodes and Windham in the finals to become dual champions.

April 1995

While the NWA withdrew their recognition of the WCW controlled championship in August 1993 they did not establish new champions until almost two years later, holding a one-night, eight-team tournament on April 11, 1995 in Dallas, Texas. The tournament saw tag team veterans, and former four-time holders of the Mid-Atlantic version of the championship The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeat Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes to win the championship.

December 1995

The NWA Board of Directors stripped the Rock 'n' Roll Express of the championship on August 4, 1995 when Ricky Morton was suspended by Smokey Mountain Wrestling and thus was unable to defend the championship. During the fall of 1995 the NWA reached an agreement with their Japanese member, International Wrestling Association of Japan (IWA Japan) to give the Japanese promotion control of the championship. IWA Japan held a multi-week, multi-team tournament to crown new champions. Records are unclear on the early parts of the tournament, but did document that Keizo Masuda and Terry Gordy defeated Leatherface and Shoji Nakamaki, but is unclear how they were eliminated. The finals saw Mr. Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto defeat the team of Cactus Jack and Tiger Jeet Singh to become the eight overall champions.

July 2002

In June 2002 the NWA vacated the tag team championship to allow the newly formed NWA-Total Non-Stop Action (NWA-TNA) to use the championship on their weekly pay-per-view (PPV) shows. NWA-TNA held a four-team tournament, which included the former champions the Shane Twins, albeit working as the masked tag team "The Johnsons".

The tournament was the focal point of NWA-TNA's third weekly PPV and saw America's Most Wanted (AMW) defeat the Johnsons in the first match, followed by The Rainbow Express (Bruce and Lenny) defeated the team of Buff Bagwell and Gran Apolo. Between the first round and the finals it was announced that both Harris and Storm of America's Most Wanted were injured and unable to compete in the final match. NWA-TNA management then announced that A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn would replace AMW in the last match of the tournament. Styles and Lynn went on to defeat The Rainbow Express to become the first NWA-TNA era NWA World Tag Team Champions

September 2002

During the 9th weekly TNA PPV show on August 14, 2002, then-champions A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn defended the championship against the team of Jeff Jarrett and Ron Killings. The match ended with Jarrett pinning Lynn while Styles pinned Killings, which lead to the championship being held up due to the inconclusive outcome of the match. On September 18 NWA-TNA held a tournament to determine new champions. The tournament had two stages, first a Gauntlet for the Gold, multi-man elimination match, with the final two competitors moving to the finals along with their respective tag team partners. The Gauntlet for the Gold was won by Brian Lee and Chris Harris. Immediately after the match Harris and partner James Storm (America's Most Wanted) defeated Brian Lee and his chosen partner Ron Harris to win the championship.

2004

On February 4, 2004 A.J. Styles was scheduled to team with Abyss to wrestle then-champions The Red-Shirt Security (Kevin Northcutt and Joe Legend) for the belts. The two were storyline rivals that were forced to team up. On the night the storyline was that Abyss did not show up for the match, but Styels managed to defeat Northcutt and Legend to win the championship. Three weeks later Abyss defeated A.J. Styles to gain full control of the championship. A couple of weeks later the championship was vacated because Abyss did not defend them, nor did he chose a new partner.

Over the following weeks NWA-TNA held an eight-team tournament to crown new champions. Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Low-Ki) earned their way to the finals by defeating The New Franchise (Michael Shane and Shane Douglas) in the first round and The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) in the semi-finals. The team of Dallas and Kid Kash qualified for the finals with victories over the team of Simon Diamond and Sonny Siaki and then defeated The Disciples of the New Church (Sinn and Slash). In the finals Dallas and Kash defeated Triple X to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship for the first time.