World Tag Team Championship (WWE)

Not to be confused with WWE Raw Tag Team Championship, WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, or NXT Tag Team Championship.

The World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world tag team title of WWE. In 2009 it was unified with the WWE Tag Team Championship to make up the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. It was retired in 2010. The last champions were The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd).

World Tag Team Championship
CM Punk with the last championship design (2002–2010)
Details
Promotion	WWWF/WWF/WWE
Date established	June 3, 1971
Date retired	August 16, 2010
Other name(s)
WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1971–1979) WWF Tag Team Championship (1979–1983) WWF World Tag Team Championship (1983–2002) WWE Tag Team Championship (2002) World Tag Team Championship (2002–2010) Unified WWE Tag Team Championship (2009–2010)
Statistics First champion(s) Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler Final champion(s) The Hart Dynasty Most reigns (as team) The Dudley Boyz (8 reigns) (as individual) Edge (12 reigns) Longest reign Demolition (478 days) Shortest reign Edge and Christian (<1 hour) Oldest winner Ric Flair (57 years, 253 days) Youngest winner René Duprée (19 years, 182 days) Heaviest champion Owen Hart and Yokozuna (868 lb Combined (Yokozuna 641 lb and Owen Hart 227 lb)) Lightest champion Paul London and Brian Kendrick (380 lb Combined (Paul London 205 lb and Brian Kendrick 175lb))

History

The championship was first introduced into the then World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1971. Following its introduction into the WWWF Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler became the first WWWF Tag Team Champions on June 3. In 1979 the title became known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Tag Team Championship when the promotion renamed itself World Wrestling Federation.

In 2001 at the Survivor Series Pay-per-view during the Invasion storyline, The Hardy Boyz, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy who were the current World Tag Team Champions and were competing for the WWF took on The Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley who were the current WCW World Tag Team Champions and were competing for The Alliance in a title unification match inside a Steel Cage, The Dudleyz defeated The Hardyz and were named the last WCW Tag Team Champions while also becoming the WWF Tag Team Champions

After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was referred to as the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Tag Team Championship. After a period where the championship was to be freely defended on either Raw or SmackDown! the championship became exclusive to the Raw brand and was renamed World Tag Team Championship. The General Manager at this time, Stephanie McMahon created new WWE Tag Team Titles which were to be exclusive to the SmackDown! Brand.

At WrestleMania 25, The Colóns (Primo and Carlito) defeated WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz and John Morrison to unify both championships (which also meant it could be defended on all three brands: Raw, SmackDown and ECW). On August 16, 2010, the World Tag Team Championship was retired in favor of continuing the WWE Tag Team Championship (which then lost the "unified" name) with Bret Hart presenting new championship belts to the final World Tag Team Champions, The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd).

Shawn Michaels with a variation of the 1985-2002 design (the WWF/E logos on the belt were updated in 1998 and 2002)

There have been a total of 113 recognized teams and 164 recognized individual champions, who have had a combined 176 official reigns. The team with the most reigns is The Dudley Boyz with eight. Edge has the most individual reigns with 12. Two tag teams have held the titles for 365 or more days: Demolition (Ax and Smash), whose first reign set the record at 478 days and The Valiant Brothers (Jerry and Johnny Valiant). Demolition is also the team with the longest combined reign at 698 days, while Mr. Fuji has the longest combined reign as an individual at 932 days.

Other websites

• "World Tag Team Championship title history".