The World Tag Team Championship is the name given to certain tag team championships in professional wrestling. Although various professional wrestling promotions have used the term "world heavyweight championship", it is almost exclusively used as a moniker for the tag team championship that is under competition in major organizations. The territorial nature of early professional wrestling, in which promotions would each operate in different regional territories across the nation, suggested that few organizations could legitimately promote a World Tag Team Championship, in the sense that the title could theoretically be defended against any challengers anywhere in the world. However, with the emergence of professional wrestling in mainstream and popular culture during the 1980s professional wrestling boom, many organizations grew to receive national and international exposure and thereby gained the platform to promote worldwide.
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Nomenclature
The name of the promotion is often preceded to the term "world tag team championship" as the complete name of the title. Examples of this included the ECW World Tag Team, WCW World Tag Team, and WWF World Tag Team Championship. However, some are also correctly known simply a the "World Tag Team Championship" without bearing the name of an organization. In some cases, this occurs in organizations where other World Tag Team Championships are also competed for, as was the case in WCW in the early 1990s, and in WWE today. The term "world tag team championship" can apply to any World Tag Team Championship in general or to a specific one in particular, though this often creates confusion over which tag team championship is being referenced when the term is used.
Due to the variations of tag team wrestling other World Tag Team Championships may exclude the "Tag Team" portion of the name and use a more suitable term like "Trios" or "Six-Man Tag" to indicate a tag team with three members.
Promotions can also recognize subordinate titles to World Tag Team Championships that are often designated as regional, national, or international championships. Examples of these subordinate titles include the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship and WWF International Tag Team Championship, which are national and international subordinates respectively.
Active prominent championships
| Championship | Promotion | Date Est. | Current champions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWA World Tag Team Championship | NWA | July 12, 1992 | The Skullkrushers (Rasche Brown & Keith Walker) (October 4, 2008) |
Various unsanctioned versions of this title existed between 1950 and early 1990s before a tournament was finally held by the NWA to produce one fully sanctioned tag team title. |
| ROH World Tag Team Championship | ROH | September 21, 2002 | The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) (June 21, 2009) |
Established with the development of the promotion and has been defended in England, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and Ireland. The promotion is currently considered the third prominent promotion in the United States. |
| TNA World Tag Team Championship | TNA | May 17, 2007 | The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) (October 18, 2009) |
The title was introduced by TNA after the NWA regained control of the NWA World Tag Team Championship from the promotion and stripped TNA's champions of the NWA titles. |
| World Tag Team Championship | WWE | June 3, 1971 | The Big Show and Chris Jericho (June 28, 2009) |
The title was established as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Tag Team Championship and later became known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Tag Team Championship. Since the WWE Brand Extension, the title has become known simply as the World Tag Team Championship. The title along with the WWE Tag Team Championship are currently unified and defended simultaneously as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. However, neither title has been retired. |
| WWE Tag Team Championship | October 20, 2002 | The title was established when it was introduced for the SmackDown brand after the World Tag Team Championship became exclusive to the Raw brand and has also been a part of the ECW brand. The WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship are currently unified and defended simultaneously as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. However, neither title has been retired. |
See also
- World Heavyweight Championship (professional wrestling)
- Tag team
- Championship (professional wrestling)
External links
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