Territory years (1950–1982) In 1948 six
professional wrestling promoters in the United States joined to form the
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a governing body for a number of different wrestling promotions, which then became known as the
NWA territories. The promoters, (
Pinkie George,
Al Haft, Tony Stecher,
Harry Light,
Orville Brown and
Sam Muchnick) formed a board of directors and decided that they would endorse two wrestling championships that all territories would recognize, the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Those two championships were controlled by the board, who would meet to vote on who should be given the championship next. Tag team wrestling first rose to popularity on the west coast of the United States, which led to the Los Angeles territory, promoted by Johnny Doyle, creating the first
NWA World Tag Team Championship of the territory era when
the Dusek Riot Squad (
Emil and
Ernie) were billed as the champions on a July 14, 1949, show in Long Beach. The following year the San Francisco territory followed suit and created their
local version of the championship when Ray Eckert and
Hard Boiled Haggerty defeated the team of Ron Etchison and
Larry Moquin on April 4, 1950. A month later the
Midwest Wrestling Association territory, covering
Kansas,
Missouri,
Nebraska and
Iowa, created
their own version of the championship on May 26, 1950, as the Dusek Riot Squad (Emil and
Joe) won that championship. 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. Historic records do not indicate that Blears and Laytham had actually won the championship elsewhere. 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. 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. 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. 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. Another version was introduced around 1955–1956 in the
Idaho-Utah territory based out of Salt Lake City. 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. Three additional versions of the championship were introduced in 1957, the first of which was in Minneapolis, where
the Kalmikoffs (Ivan and Karol) won a tournament to become champions. The second new championship was also the second Texas-based championship as the eastern Texas-based Houston-Dallas territory introduced
Verne Gagne and
Wilbur Snyder as their
local champions. The third championship introduced in 1957 was used by
Nick Gulas'
NWA Mid-America promotion when Gulas introduced the Corsicans (
Corsica Joe and Corsica Jean) as champions when they made their debut for NWA Mid-America. 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. 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. 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
Championship Wrestling from Florida created the
Florida version of the championship as
the Von Brauners (
Kurt and
Karl Von Brauner) became regular performers in Florida. In 1964 the Detroit-based Big Time Wrestling announced that
Chris and
John Tolos had won the newly created
Detroit version of the championship on February 16, 1965. In 1966
NWA All-Star Wrestling introduced
their own version, but by mid-1968 the promotion discontinued using them in favor of the
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. In 1968 the Amarillo territory stopped using their version of the world championship, favoring the
NWA Western States Tag Team Championship instead. This championship would later also be recognized by Georgia Championship Wrestling. In 1979 the San Francisco version of the championship was abandoned, while Hollywood Wrestling reintroduced the Los Angeles version of the championship shortly afterwards. 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. 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. At that point in time the NWA did not determine a new set of NWA World Tag Team Champions. To emphasize the global aspect of the championship, WCW and the NWA brought in several international teams for the tournament. Teams such as
Silver King and
El Texano from Mexico,
Hiroshi Hase and
Akira Nogami from Japan, Miguel Perez Jr. and
Ricky Santana from Puerto Rico and
Joe and
Dean Malenko representing Europe. The first round of the tournament took place on June 22, 1992, at WCW's
Clash of the Champions XIX show, while the remaining tournament took place at the 1992
Great American Bash. In the period of time between the Clash and the Great American Bash the team of
Terry Gordy and Steve Williams had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from
The Steiner Brothers, and when they won the tournament at the Great American Bash they became double champions, carrying two sets of belts each for their matches. 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. As part of the storyline the Rock 'n' Roll Express lost the tag team championship to WWF regulars
The Headbangers (
Mosh and
Thrasher) on February 17, 1998, during an episode of
Raw is War. TNA controlled the championship from 2002 until May 2007, crowning a total of 32 champions in that period of time. At that point the NWA withdrew its recognition of NWA:TNA, which then rebranded itself "Total Nonstop Action Wrestling" and created the
TNA World Tag Team Championship.
Post TNA (2007–2018) (left) and
Davey Boy Smith Jr. (right), held both the NWA and
IWGP Tag Team Championship at the same time. 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 (
Karl Anderson and
Joey Ryan) defeated the teams of
Billy Kidman/
Sean Waltman and
Incognito/
Sicodelico Jr. in a three-way match to win the championship. On October 4, 2008, The Skullcrushers (Rache Brown and
Keith Walker) defeated
Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre) to win the championship. This marked the start of a 777 day long reign, the longest in the championships history, lasting until November 20, 2010, where The Skullcrushers were defeated by
The Dark City Fight Club (
Jon Davis and
Kory Chavis. In 2013 the NWA began working closely together with
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), co-promoting shows and NJPW hosting several championship matches for both the heavyweight and tag team championships. On April 20, 2013, the
Killer Elite Squad (
Davey Boy Smith Jr. and
Lance Archer) defeated Scott Summers and Ryan Genesis to win the championship, the Killer Elite Squad was also the
IWGP Tag Team Champions at the time of the title victory. On November 3, 2013
The IronGodz (
Jax Dane and
Rob Conway) won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in a special two falls match that saw
Tencozy (
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and
Satoshi Kojima) with the IWGP championship in the other fall. Conway was the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him the first person to hold both championships at once. On April 6, 2014, Tencozy defeated the Iron Godz to win the NWA championship and would later lose those to the Killer Elite Squad on October 10, 2014. On October 15, 2015, The Heatseekers (Sigmon and Elliot Russel) won the championship on a show in Dyersburg. Later that night,
Villain Enterprises (
Brody King and
PCO) defeated the wild card team of
Royce Isaacs and
Thomas Latimer defeated in the finals to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. ==Reigns==