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The World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title. It is World Wrestling Entertainment's original tag team championship and is currently exclusive on its RAW brand.

History

The belt was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Tag Team Championship. Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler were the first team to hold this belt, when they were awarded the belts on June 3, 1971 from on a fictitious tournament. Along with the renaming of the promotion, the belt was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Tag Team Championship (more often called the WWF Tag Team Championship during the Attitude era) in 1979.

At Survivor Series 2001 the title was unified with the WCW World Tag Team Championship, when the Dudley Boyz defeated the Hardy Boyz in a steel cage match. This was not the first time the WCW and WWF World Tag Team Championships were held by the same tag team, however, as The Undertaker and Kane held both the WWF and WCW World Tag Team championships after winning the former at SummerSlam 2001, also in a steel cage match.

Due to the World Wrestling Federation's lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund and eventual renaming to World Wrestling Entertainment, the title was briefly called the WWE World Tag Team Championship in 2002.

After the promotion's brand extension in 2002, the reigning WWF World Tag Team Champions at the time, Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo, were drafted as a tandem by Vince McMahon to the SmackDown! brand. During the title's brief history on SmackDown! it was held by the tandems of Rikishi and Rico, regained by Billy and Chuck, won by Hulk Hogan and Edge, and then by Lance Storm and Christian. Later that year, Storm and Christian left SmackDown! and joined the RAW brand, bringing the tag team title with them and making it de facto RAW-exclusive.

Shortly thereafter, SmackDown! general manager Stephanie McMahon announced that a tag team tournament would be held to determine a new champions for a SmackDown!-exclusive tag team championship. The new title was named the WWE Tag Team Championship, while the older belt on RAW belt was renamed to the World Tag Team Championship so that each tag belt would be named consistently with respect to the respective show's heavyweight belt (the World Heavyweight Championship on RAW and the WWE Championship on SmackDown!). The current name of this title, like the World Heavyweight Championship, does not have the WWE prefix attached to it. Towards the end of 2002 new belts were designed to differentiate the two nearly-identical championship belts, with each show having various parts that were colored to match the show's colors (red for RAW and blue for SmackDown!). While the World Tag Team Championship belts would be completely redesigned, the WWE Tag Team Championship belts still use the same basic shape of the old World Tag Team Championship, but with an updated look.

Statistics

Record: Record holder: Record number: Notes:
Most reigns as a team Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) 8 N/A
Most reigns as an individual Billy Gunn and Edge 10 Gunn held the title three times with Bart Gunn, five times with Road Dogg Jesse James, and twice with Chuck. Edge held the title seven times with Christian, once with Hulk Hogan, and twice with Chris Benoit.
Longest reign Demolition (Ax and Smash) 478 days They also became the third team in the WWF to win the World Tag Team Championship belts three times. Their record would stand strong until Billy Gunn and Road Dogg broke it in 1998.
Shortest reign Owen Hart and Yokozuna c. 1 hour Hart and Yokozuna regained the titles from Diesel and Shawn Michaels on September 25, 1995. They lost the titles to The Smokin' Gunns.
Oldest individual champion Ric Flair 55 years Flair won the title for the second time with Batista in March 2004. His first reign with Batista occurred four months prior when he was 54 years old. They won the titles for the very first time together at Armageddon 2003.
Youngest individual champion René Duprée 19 years Won title with Sylvain Grenier. Also youngest individual WWE Tag Team Champion.
Tallest champions Big Show and Kane 7 ft 1 in and 6 ft 9 in N/A
Shortest champions Spike Dudley and Tazz 5 ft 7 in and 5 ft 9 in N/A
Heaviest champions Earthquake & Typhoon 852 lb (Earthquake 468 lb & Typhoon 384 lb) Big Show and Kane are second at 833lbs, and if one takes all five members of the Spirit Squad as an official tag team, than their total weight is 1144lbs
Lightest champions Spike Dudley and Tazz 402 lb. Combined (150 lb. and 252 lb.) N/A
Most different partners Kane 6 Kane has held the World Tag Team Championship with Mankind, X-Pac, The Undertaker, The Hurricane, Rob Van Dam and The Big Show.

Trivia

  • For the first time in WWE history, five men have simultaneously held the championships, the Spirit Squad.

  • At one point in the 80's all three members of Demolition (Ax, Smash, & Crush) were recognized as a championship "trio."

Current champions

The current champions are all five members of the Spirit Squad. Kenny and Mikey defeated Big Show and Kane on WWE RAW on April 3, 2006. Kenny was able to score a flying legdrop after the Squad came and delivered the High Spirits. Under the Freebird Rule, any two members of the Spirit Squad are allowed to defend the title in a match, giving Johnny, Nicky and Mitch a reign as well. This is the team's first reign together.

See also

External links

World Wrestling Entertainment championships | Tag team wrestling championships

Campeonato mundial en pareja (WWE) | WWE World Tag Team Championship | WWE World Tag Team Championship | World Tag Team Championship (WWE) | WWE・世界タッグチーム王座

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "World Tag Team Championship (WWE)".

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