NWA World Tag Team Championship
NWA World Tag Team Championship | |
---|---|
Terry Gordy and Steve Williams[1] | |
Most reigns | Team: America's Most Wanted (6 reigns) Individual: James Storm (8 reigns) |
Longest reign | The Skullkrushers (Rasche Brown and Keith Walker) (777 days) |
Shortest reign | David Flair and Dan Factor / Glacier and Jason Sugarman / The Heatseekers (1 day) |
Oldest champion | Ricky Morton (63 years old) |
The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a
In 1992 the NWA board of directors decided to sanction one world-level NWA World Tag Team Championship, working with WCW to hold a tournament to determine the inaugural officially recognized, NWA World Tag Team Championship. In 1993, the NWA and WCW severed their relationship and the NWA took with it the tag team championship. The NWA would briefly allow the
The Skullcrushers (Rasche Brown and Keith Walker) held the championship for 777 days, making them the longest reigning champions in the history of the NWA board-recognized championship. Three teams have held the championship for just one day: David Flair and Dan Factor, Glacier and Jason Sugarman, and The Heatseekers (Sigmon and Elliot Russel).
History
Territory years (1950–1982)
In 1948 six
At the time
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.[11][12] Historic records do not indicate that Blears and Laytham had actually won the championship elsewhere.[11] From mid-1953 the championship became the main tag team championship of the Illinois-Wisconsin territory.[11][12] 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).[13][14]
In 1954 the Canadian Athletic Promotion, based in Montreal, used the NWA World Tag Team Championship name as well, but by the end of the year they had abandoned it.[15][16] 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) to start the Georgia branch.[17][18]
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.[19][20] Also in 1955, the first of two Texas-based NWA World Tag Team Championships was created by 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 Neilson) travel to their territory to lose a version of the championship to start the local version. In this case Neilson 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.[21][22] Another version was introduced around 1955–1956 in the Idaho-Utah territory based out of Salt Lake City.[23][24] The Indianapolis territory soon introduced another local version by recognizing the lineage of the Chicago version, before splitting it off into a separate entity in 1957 when Nicoli and Boris Volkoff won the championship.[25][26]
Three additional versions of the championship were introduced in 1957, the first of which was in Minneapolis, where
No new championships were introduced in 1958 or 1959, but with all versions being active but that of Montreal, thirteen versions were being defended across the United States in 1957.[33] 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 Association.[3] 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 of those territories.[34]
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
In 1968 the Amarillo territory stopped using their version of the world championship, favoring the
The W(W)WF was a member of the NWA between 1972 and 1983, thus the WWF World Tag Team championship, although never referred to as such, was effectively another version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship during this period.[42]
In 1979 the San Francisco version of the championship was abandoned, while Hollywood Wrestling reintroduced the Los Angeles version of the championship shortly afterwards.[4][6] The same year the Central States version was abandoned, in favor of the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship.[9][10] The Detroit territory closed its doors in 1980, ending their version of the championship.[37][38] In 1981 World Class Championship Wrestling briefly brought back the east Texas version of the championship, but later abandoned it in favor of the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship.[29]
- Territorial versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship
One championship (1982–1991)
In 1982 the Los Angeles territory closed, abandoning their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.[4][5] 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.[Note 1] 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 de facto "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.[44]
In 1988 the cost of the rapid expansion of JCP forced Crockett to sell his promotion to Turner Broadcasting System. Turner began to rebrand 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 labeled as WCW World Tag Team Champions.[45] At that point in time the NWA did not determine a new set of NWA World Tag Team Champions.[46]
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.
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.[1] While the NWA initially recognized the five WCW booked championship reigns, they later removed them from their official history.[49]
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.
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
On August 14, 1998, the 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
Total Nonstop Action (2002–2007)
In early 2002, Jeff Jarrett and his father
Post TNA (2007–2018)
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 (
In 2013 the NWA began working closely together with
Billy Corgan acquisition (2019–present)
On April 27, 2019, the
Reigns
There have been 90 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 reigns of the Dark City Fight Club which totaled 742 days.[46]
The current champions are Blunt Force Trauma (
Tournaments
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 finals took place at that year's The Great American Bash
Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff | W | ||||||||||||||
Joe and Dean Malenko | [55] | Koloff and Steamboat | W | ||||||||||||
Jushin Thunder Liger and Brian Pillman
| W | Liger and Pillman | [55] | ||||||||||||
Beef Wellington and Chris Benoit | [55] | Koloff and Steamboat | [55] | ||||||||||||
Terry Gordy and Steve Williams
| W | Gordy and Williams | W | ||||||||||||
Jeff and Larry O'Day | [55] | Gordy and Williams | W | ||||||||||||
The Steiner Brothers
| W | The Steiner Brothers | [55] | ||||||||||||
Miguel Perez Jr. and Ricky Santana | [55] | Gordy and Williams | W | ||||||||||||
Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham
| W | Rhodes and Windham | [55] | ||||||||||||
Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton | [55] | Rhodes and Windham | W | ||||||||||||
Steve Austin and Rick Rude | W | Austin and Rude | [55] | ||||||||||||
Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Tom Zenk | [55] | Rhodes and Windham | W | ||||||||||||
Hiro Hase and Akira Nogami
| W | Hase and Hashimoto | [55] | ||||||||||||
The Headhunters | [55] | Hase and Shinya Hashimoto | W | ||||||||||||
Silver King I and Silver King II | [55] | The Fabulous Freebirds | [55] | ||||||||||||
The Fabulous Freebirds
| W |
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.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
The Rock 'n' Roll Express
| W | ||||||||||
The Interns | [50] | The Rock 'n' Roll Express | W | ||||||||
Black Bart and Blue Scorpion | W | Hector and Chavo Guerrero | [50] | ||||||||
Hector and Chavo Guerrero
| [50] | The Rock 'n' Roll Express | W | ||||||||
Greg Valentine and Al Perez | W | Murdoch and Rhodes | [50] | ||||||||
Killer Tim Brooks and Hercules
| [50] | Brooks and Hercules | [50] | ||||||||
Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes | W | Murdoch and Rhodes | W | ||||||||
Sam Houston and The Masked Marvel | [50] |
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
amse | Points |
---|---|
Cactus Jack & Tiger Jeet Singh | 10 |
Mr. Gannosuke & Tarzan Goto | 10 |
Terry Funk & Keisuke Yamada | 8 |
Headhunters | 8 |
Leatherface & Shoji Nakamaki | 8 |
Terry Gordy & Keizo Matsuda | 6 |
Bogeyman & Freddy Krueger | 2 |
Flying Kid Ichikara & Miguel Perez Jr. | 2 |
July 2002
In June 2002 the NWA vacated the tag team championship to allow the newly formed
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.[58] 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.[46] NWA-TNA management then announced that A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn would replace AMW in the last match of the tournament.[46] Styles and Lynn went on to defeat The Rainbow Express to become the first NWA-TNA era NWA World Tag Team Champions[46][58]
Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) | W | ||||||||
The Johnsons (Dick and Rod Johnson) | 04:42[58] | A.J. Styles and Jerry Lynn | W | ||||||
The Rainbow Express (Bruce and Lenny) | W | The Rainbow Express | 12:23[58] | ||||||
Buff Bagwell and Gran Apolo | 05:49[58] |
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
- Gauntlet eliminations
# | Eliminated | By[61] |
---|---|---|
1 | Derek Wylde | Brian Lawler |
2 | Joel Maximo | Brian Lawler |
3 | James Storm | Brian Lawler |
4 | Kobain | Syxx-Pac |
5 | Ace Steel | Syxx-Pac |
6 | Jorge Estrada | Ron Harris
|
7 | CM Punk | Ron Harris
|
8 | Jimmy Rave | Brian Lee |
9 | Buff Bagwell | Ron Harris
|
10 | Brian Lawler | Syxx-Pac |
11 | Jose Maximo | Ron Harris
|
12 | Syxx-Pac | Ron Harris
|
13 | Ron Harris |
Scott Hall |
14 | Slash | Scott Hall |
15 | Sonny Siaki | Disco Inferno |
16 | Disco Inferno | Scott Hall |
17 | BG James | Brian Lee |
18 | Scott Hall | Brian Lee |
19 | Winners | Brian Lee and Chris Harris |
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.[46][62] Three weeks later Abyss defeated A.J. Styles to gain full control of the championship.[62] A couple of weeks later the championship was vacated because Abyss did not defend them, nor did he chose a new partner.[62]
Over the following weeks NWA-TNA held an eight-team tournament to crown new champions.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Low-Ki) | W | ||||||||||
The New Franchise (Michael Shane and Shane Douglas) | [63] | Triple X | W | ||||||||
The Naturals )
(Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens | W | The Naturals | [63] | ||||||||
) | [63] | Triple X | [63] | ||||||||
Dallas and Kid Kash
| W | Dallas and Kid Kash | W | ||||||||
Simon Diamond and Sonny Siaki | [63] | Dallas and Kid Kash | W | ||||||||
) | W | The Disciples Of The New Church | [63] | ||||||||
David Young and Glen Gilberti | [63] |
2019 Crockett Cup
In October 2018, during the NWA 70th Anniversary Show, it was announced that the Crockett Cup would be returning in 2019.[8] It was later revealed that the event would take place on April 27, 2019, at Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina. The event was co-produced by the NWA and Ring of Honor (ROH).[1]
At the NWA New Years Clash, The War Kings (Crimson and Jax Dane) (with Road Warrior Animal) defeated Caleb Konley and Jay Bradley to become the first team to qualify for the 2019 Crockett Cup.[10] From January 24 to January 26, 2019, Ring of Honor held a 12-team Tag Wars tournament as part of their Road To G1 Supercard tour of Texas. Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO) won the three-day tournament by defeating The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan) in the first round, The Bouncers (Brian Milonas and Beer City Bruiser) and the team of Kenny King and MVP in the second round, and Lifeblood (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) in the finals to earn a spot in the Crockett Cup as well as a match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[11] On February 8, 2019, it was announced that ROH partner promotions Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) out of Mexico, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from Japan would also be sending teams for the 2019 Crockett Cup.[12][10]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
The Briscoe Brothers )
(Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe | W | |||||||||||||
The Rock 'n' Roll Express )
(Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson | ||||||||||||||
Briscoe Brothers | ||||||||||||||
Villain Enterprises | W | |||||||||||||
Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata | ||||||||||||||
PCO )
| W | |||||||||||||
Villain Enterprises | W | |||||||||||||
Isaacs and Latimer | ||||||||||||||
Flip Gordon and Bandido | W | |||||||||||||
Guerrero Maya Jr. and Stuka Jr. | ||||||||||||||
Gordon and Bandido | ||||||||||||||
Isaacs and Latimer | W | |||||||||||||
The War Kings ( Crimson and Jax Dane )
| ||||||||||||||
Thomas Latimer
| W |
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Please see the "Territory versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship " table above for full overview of dates and sources.
- ^ The Malenko brothers were born in America, and neither worked regularly in Europe, but played off the fact that they were sons of Boris Malenko, who portrayed a Russian character for most of his career.
References
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- ^ ISBN 1-55022-741-6.
- ^ ISBN 1-55022-741-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b c d "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title: Los Angeles – 1950s". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [San Francisco 1950s]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-87349-625-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b c "NWA World Tag Team Title [Central States]". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b c "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Illinois & Wisconsin]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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- ^ a b c "NWA World Tag Team Title [Ohio / Northern New York]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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- ^ a b "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Montreal]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ a b c "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Georgia]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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- ^ a b "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Indianapolis]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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- ^ a b "World Tag Team Title [Northwest Tri-State]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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- ^ a b "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Indianapolis]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
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- ^ The start and end dates of all reigns are sourced in the table below.
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- ^ "NWA World Heavyweight Championship". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. July 20, 2011.
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- ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
- ^ ISBN 1-4996-5634-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Post 1992 version]". Wrestling-Titles.com. January 1, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
- ^ a b "Clash of Champions Results (XIX)". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on June 23, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
- ^ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts: Great American Bash 1992". Wrestling's Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 138.
- ^ "NWA World Tag Team Title (Board of Directors Version)". National Wrestling Alliance. Archived from the original on April 7, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "NWA World Tag Title Tournament 1995". Pro Wrestling History. April 11, 1995. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
- ^ "National Wrestling Alliance North American Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (July 3, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (July 3): Velvet McIntyre beats Moolah for WWF Women's title, Bret Hart Vs. Nick Bockwinkle in 1981". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the originalon July 15, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
- ^ "Breaking The winners of #CrockettCup will be the new @NWA World Tag Team Champions". Twitter.com. National Wrestling Alliance. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "NWA World Tag Title Tournament 1992". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
- ^ a b "World Championship Wrestling World Tag team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ a b "International Wrestling Association Japan - "2ND YEAR FINAL BATTLE ~ NWA WORLD TAG LEAGUE"". PuroLove. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f "NWA TNA PPV #3". Pro Wrestling History. July 3, 2002. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- ^ "NWA TNA PPV #9". Pro Wrestling History. August 14, 2002. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- ^ a b "NWA TNA PPV #12". Pro Wrestling History. September 18, 2002. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- ^ "NWA Total Nonstop Action #13". CageMatch (in German). September 18, 2002. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- ^ a b c "NWA World Tag Team Championship". CageMatch. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament". CageMatch. Retrieved March 7, 2017.