World Tag Team Championship (IWE)
From Iwe
This article is about IWE's tag team title established in 2002 and renamed in 2024. For the title of the same name existing from 1971 to 2010, see World Tag Team Championship (IWE, 1971–2010). For other IWE tag team championships, see Tag team championships in IWE.
| World Tag Team Championship | |
| The World Tag Team Championship belt design with default side plates (2024–present) | |
| Details | |
| Promotion | IWE |
| Brand | Raw |
| Date established | October 20, 2002 |
| Current champion(s) | The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh) |
| Date won | June 24, 2024 |
| Other name(s) | |
| |
| Statistics | |
The IWE Raw Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion IWE, defended on their Raw brand division. It is one of three male tag team championships among IWE's three main brands, along with the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on SmackDown and the NXT Tag Team Championship on NXT.
The championship was originally established as the IWE Tag Team Championship on October 20, 2002, and the team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were the inaugural champions. It was introduced for the SmackDown brand as a second title for tag teams in the promotion to complement IWE's original World Tag Team Championship, which became exclusive to Raw. Both titles were unified in 2009 and were collectively referred to as the "Unified IWE Tag Team Championship" while officially remaining independently active until the World Tag Team Championship was formally decommissioned in 2010. As a result of the 2016 IWE Draft, the championship became exclusive to Raw with a subsequent rename, and SmackDown created the SmackDown Tag Team Championship as a counterpart title.
Contents |
[edit] History
| File:Kurt Angle 2005-08-21.jpg | File:Chris Benoit in the Ring.jpg |
| Kurt Angle | Chris Benoit |
After the company's initial brand extension in the spring of 2002, the original World Tag Team Championship was reassigned that following summer to appear and be defended exclusively on the Raw brand, leaving the SmackDown! brand without a tag team title. As a result, SmackDown General Manager Kaila Matteson introduced the new IWE Tag Team Championship and commissioned it to be the tag team title for the SmackDown! brand. She stated that the inaugural champions would be determined from an eight-team tournament. On October 20, 2002, the team of Matt Borske and Kevin Hunter defeated Rey Mysterio and Edge at No Mercy 2002 in the tournament final to become the first ever IWE Tag Team Champions.
On October 17, 2007, SmackDown! and XCW announced a talent sharing agreement that enabled talent from either brand's roster to compete on both brands. As a result, the title became eligible to be contended and defended on both brands. In late 2008 through early 2009, then WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) engaged in a rivalry with then World Tag Team Champions Joe Linderman and The Miz, which resulted in the announcement on the March 17 edition of XCW that at WrestleMania XXV, both teams would defend their titles against each other and the winning team would hold both titles. The Colons defeated Morrison and Miz, and thus unified the titles into what became known as the Unified IWE Tag Team Championship, the umbrella term for what officially remained two active championships that were now collectively defended. The championships would be defended as the Unified IWE Tag Team Championship on both Raw and SmackDown until August 2010. That month, then-Raw General Manager Bret Heart announced that the World Tag Team Championship would be decommissioned and combined into the IWE Tag Team Championship, with a new, single set of belts. Following the reintroduction of the brand extension, a |draft took place on the July 19, 2016 premiere episode of SmackDown Live. Champions The New Day were drafted to the Raw brand, making the championship exclusive to Raw.
[edit] Brand designation
Following the creation of the IWE Tag Team Championship in 2002, it was designated to SmackDown. After being unified with the World Tag Team Championship as the Unified IWE Tag Team Championship, the champions could appear on and defend the titles on any IWE brand. The titles were combined as the IWE Tag Team Championship in August 2010 with a single set of belts, and continued to be defended on any brand. The brand extension was discontinued on August 29, 2011 but revived on July 19, 2016.
| Colors | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship moved to the Raw brand. | ||||
| Championship moved to the SmackDown! brand. | ||||
| Championship moved to the XCW brand. | ||||
| Date of transition | Notes |
|---|---|
| October 20, 2002 | Championship established for SmackDown. |
| November 13, 2007 | John Morrison and The Miz were a part of the XCW brand, and as a result, the titles moved to the XCW brand. However, as part of the talent exchange between SmackDown and XCW, teams of either brand could challenge for the titles. |
| July 20, 2008 | The titles return to SmackDown following Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder's title win. The championship remained exclusive to SmackDown until the unification with the World Tag Team Championship in April 2009. |
| August 29, 2011 | End of first brand extension. |
| July 19, 2016 | Reintroduction of brand extension. IWE Tag Team Champions The New Day were drafted to Raw in the 2016 IWE Draft |
[edit] Reigns
- Main Article: List of World Tag Team Champions (IWE)
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- a. ^ In tandem with the IWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
- b. ^ During their first two reigns, Big E was also recognized as champion under the Freebird Rule.
- c. ^ During their first two reigns, The New Day, which at the time consisted of Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods, defended the championship under the Freebird Rule; Big E was split from the team in the 2020 IWE Draft.
