WCW United States Tag Team Championship

WCW United States Tag Team Championship
Details
Promotion Jim Crockett Promotions (1986–1988)
World Championship Wrestling
(1988–1992)
Date established September 28, 1986
Date retired July 31, 1992
Other name(s)
  • NWA United States Tag Team Championship

The WCW United States Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship contested for in the United States-based Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotions. The title was only contestable by male tag teams and in tag team matches. In 1986, NWA President and JCP owner Jim Crockett, Jr.[1] introduced the championship to replace and consolidate the old NWA Mid-Atlantic and Georgia National titles, under the name "NWA United States Tag Team Championship", by announcing a tournament for the newly created title, which was won by Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff on September 28, 1986.

In 1988, Crockett sold JCP to Ted Turner, who established WCW as its successor;[1] however, the title continued to be defended under the NWA name until January 1991, when the WCW owned and controlled titles were rebranded. The final champions under the NWA name were The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott). Following the rebranding, the title was referred to as the "WCW United States Tag Team Championship". On July 31, 1992, WCW stripped the final champions, The Barbarian and Dick Slater, of their titles and retired the championship in order to put the focus on the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

NWA/WCW United States Tag Team Championship reigns were determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes. Overall, there were 19 reigns among 15 tag teams, all of which occurred in the United States.[Note 1] From the information known, The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)'s first reign was the longest in the title's history at 346 days, while The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers)' second reign was the shortest, at 19 days. The Midnight Express also held the most reigns overall as a tag team and individually, with three.

Title history

Key
Symbol Meaning
# The overall championship reign
Wrestler name (#) The number within parenthesis represents the number of individual reigns by that specific wrestler.
Reign The reign number for the specific tag team listed
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
N/A The specific information is not known or applicable .
Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign
# Tag team name
(Wrestler(s) )
Reigns Date Days held Location Event Notes
1
Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff
1
September 28, 1986
72
Atlanta, Georgia
House show
Won the titles in a tournament final against the Kansas Jayhawks (Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers)
2
Ron Garvin and Barry Windham
1
December 9, 1986
95
Spartanburg, South Carolina
NWA Pro Wrestling
Aired December 13, 1986
3
Dick Murdoch and Ivan Koloff (2)
1
March 14, 1987
[Note 2]
Atlanta, Georgia
World Championship Wrestling
Vacated
April 4, 1987
N/A
N/A
Murdoch was suspended from in-ring competition by the NWA after performing a brainbuster on Nikita Koloff on a concrete floor, and as a result, Ivan Koloff and Murdoch were stripped of the titles.
4
The Midnight Express
(Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)
1
May 16, 1987
346
Atlanta, Georgia
World Championship Wrestling
Won the titles in a tournament final by defeating Ron Garvin and Barry Windham
5
The Fantastics
(Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers)
1
April 26, 1988
75
Chattanooga, Tennessee
World Wide Wrestling
Aired May 14, 1988.
6
The Midnight Express
(Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)
2
July 10, 1988
62
Baltimore, Maryland
The Great American Bash (1988)
Vacated
September 10, 1988
N/A
N/A
The NWA vacated the titles after Eaton and Lane won the NWA World Tag Team Championship
7
The Fantastics
(Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers)
2
December 7, 1988
19
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Clash of the Champions IV: Season's Beatings
Won the titles in a tournament final by defeating Eddie Gilbert and Ron Simmons
8
Kevin Sullivan and Steve Williams
1
December 26, 1988
64
Norfolk, Virginia
Starrcade (1988)
9
Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner
1
February 28, 1989
[Note 3]
Columbia, South Carolina
World Wide Wrestling
Aired March 18, 1989.
Vacated
May 1, 1989
N/A
N/A
The NWA vacated the title after Eddie Gilbert & Rick Steiner split as a team so Rick could team with his brother Scott Steiner.
10
Brian Pillman and The Z-Man
1
February 12, 1990
96
Rainsville, Alabama
World Wide Wrestling
Aired February 24, 1990. Won the titles in a tournament final by defeating Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin (The Fabulous Freebirds)
11
The Midnight Express
(Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane)
3
May 19, 1990
97
Washington, D.C.
Capital Combat: Return of Robocop
12
The Steiner Brothers
(Rick (2) and Scott Steiner)
1
August 24, 1990
225
East Rutherford, New Jersey
House show
Vacated
April 6, 1991
N/A
World Wide Wrestling
Announced April 6, 1991 by WCW Board of Directors spokesman Grizzly Smith, as a result of the Steiner Brothers winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship during this reign.
13
The Fabulous Freebirds
(Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes)
1
May 19, 1991
85
St. Petersburg, Florida
SuperBrawl
Won the titles by defeating The Young Pistols (Tracey Smothers and Steve Armstrong) in a Top Contenders Match.
14
The Patriots
(Todd Champion and Firebreaker Chip)
1
August 12, 1991
85
Gainesville, Georgia
World Championship Wrestling
Aired September 7, 1991.
15
The Young Pistols
(Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers)
1
November 5, 1991
70
Gainesville, Georgia
WCW Main Event
Aired December 15, 1991.
16
Big Josh and Ron Simmons
1
January 14, 1992
34
Columbus, Georgia
WCW Main Event
Aired February 16, 1992.
17
Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine
1
February 17, 1992
90
Rock Hill, South Carolina
World Championship Wrestling
Aired February 29, 1992.
18
The Fabulous Freebirds
(Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes)
2
May 17, 1992
34
Jacksonville, Florida
WrestleWar (1992)
19
Dick Slater and The Barbarian
1
June 25, 1992
36
Kansas City, Missouri
WCW Main Event
Aired July 12, 1992
Deactivated
July 31, 1992
The Championship was deactivated when the Barbarian and Slater became the final champions under WCW when the company retired the titles on July 31, 1992 to place the sole focus of the tag team division on the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Titles, which were unified at the time.

Combined reigns by length

Team

Symbol Meaning
¤ The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used.
Rank Team # of reigns Combined days
1
Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane
(The Midnight Express)
3
505
2
Rick and Scott Steiner
(The Steiner Brothers)
1
146¤
[Note 4]
3
Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes
(The Fabulous Freebirds)
2
124
4
Brian Pillman and The Z-Man
1
96
5
Ron Garvin and Barry Windham
1
95
6
Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers
(The Fantastics)
2
94
7
Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine
1
90
8
Todd Champion and Firebreaker Chip
(The Patriots)
1
85
9
Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff
1
72
10
Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers
(The Young Pistols)
1
70
11
Kevin Sullivan and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
1
64
12
Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner
1
62¤
[Note 3]
13
The Barbarian and Dick Slater
1
36
14
Big Josh and Ron Simmons
1
34
15
Dick Murdoch and Ivan Koloff
1
18¤
[Note 2]

Individual

Key
Symbol Meaning
¤ The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, the shortest possible length is used.
Rank Wrestler # of reigns Combined days
1 Bobby Eaton 3 505
Stan Lane 3 505
3 Rick Steiner 2 208¤
[Note 3]
[Note 4]
4 Scott Steiner 1 146¤
[Note 4]
5 Jimmy Garvin 2 124
Michael Hayes 2 124
7 Brian Pillman 1 96
The Z-Man 1 96
9 Ron Garvin 1 95
Barry Windham 1 95
11 Bobby Fulton 2 94
Tommy Rogers 2 94
13 Ivan Koloff 2 90¤
[Note 2]
Terry Taylor 1 90
Greg Valentine 1 90
16 Todd Champion 1 85
Firebreaker Chip 1 85
18 Krusher Khruschev 1 72
19 Steve Armstrong 1 70
Tracy Smothers 1 70
21 Kevin Sullivan 1 64
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams 1 64
23 Eddie Gilbert 1 62¤
[Note 3]
24 The Barbarian 1 36
Dick Slater 1 36
26 Big Josh 1 34
Ron Simmons 1 34
28 Dick Murdoch 1 18¤
[Note 2]

See also

Footnotes

  1. .
  2. 1 2 3 4 The exact date on which Koloff and Murdoch were stripped of the championship is not known, which means that their reign lasted between 18 and 47 days.
  3. 1 2 3 4 The exact date on which Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner lost the championship is not known, which means that their reign lasted between 62 and 91 days.
  4. 1 2 3 The exact date on which The Steiner Brothers lost the championship is not known, which means that their reign lasted between 161 and 219 days.

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 Beekman, Scott (2006). Ringside: a history of professional wrestling in America. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 129–132. ISBN 0-275-98401-X.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.