World Tag Team Championship (WWE, 1971–2010)
| File:WWEworldtagbelt.jpg The World Tag Team Championship belt (2002 – present) | |
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The World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship. The title is the original tag team championship of World Wrestling Entertainment. Currently, it is exclusive to the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.
History
The World Tag Team Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Tag Team Championship. Following the title's introducion in 1971, Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler became the inaugural champions on June 3. Then, in 1979, the name of the promotion was changed to World Wrestling Federation, thus the title was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Tag Team Championship.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. Following this, Vince McMahon orchestrated the "Invasion" storyline, in which The Alliance was ultimately dismantled. On the conclusion of the "Invasion" at Survivor Series 2001, the WCW Tag Team Championship and the WWF World Tag Team Championship were unified in a Steel cage match when the WCW Tag Team Champions, The Dudley Boyz, defeated the WWF World Tag Team Champions, The Hardy Boyz. As a result, The Dudley Boyz were named the last WCW Tag Team Champions and became the new WWF World Tag Team Champions.
After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was subsequently referred to as the World Wrestling Enterainment (WWE) World Tag Team Championship. Then, during a period of open free agency after the Brand Extension, RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff was able to sign the Tag Team Champions to the RAW brand after they had originally been drafted to the SmackDown! brand. As a result the Tag Team Championship became exclusive to the RAW brand, thus leaving the SmackDown! brand without a tag team championship. Following Bischoff's actions, SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon introduced a new WWE Tag Team Championship and commissioned it to be the exclusive tag team title for the SmackDown! brand. With the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship on the RAW brand after the WWE Championship was moved to the SmackDown! brand, the WWE World Tag Team Championship for RAW began to be referred to as simply the World Tag Team Championship. This was done so that the names of both tag team titles would mirror the names of the top championships on each brand. However, when the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship switched brands during the 2005 Draft Lottery, neither of the tag team titles were renamed.
Trivia
- Five men have won this title while also being the reigning WWE or World Champion: Bob Backlund (WWF, 1980), Diesel (WWF, 1995), Steve Austin (WWF, 1998 & 2001), Chris Benoit (World, 2004), and John Cena (WWE, 2007).
- The Brothers of Destruction were the first ever team to hold the WWF World Tag Team Championship along with the WCW World Tag Team Championship at the same time.
- There have been two occasions where the reigning World Tag Team Champions faced each other for a singles title: Davey Boy Smith vs. Owen Hart for the (now defunct) European Championship on February 261997 and John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 23 on April 1, 2007.
Current champions
The current champions are Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, who are in their second reign as a team. They defeated The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) for the title fair and square On the June 4, 2007 edition of RAW in Tampa, Florida.
See also
- WWE Tag Team Championship
- List of World Tag Team Champions (WWE)
- List of World Tag Team Championship reigns by length