Originally, ECW was known as Eastern Championship Wrestling when it was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an organization that had numerous member promotions. ECW withdrew as a member of the NWA in 1994 and renamed itself to Extreme Championship Wrestling.[1] The championship remained active until April 2001, when ECW filed for bankruptcy. All of ECW's assets were later purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in mid-2003, including the copyrights to ECW's championships.[2]
In May 2006, WWE extended its promotion by adding ECW as a third additional brand, the others being Raw and SmackDown!, in a storylinesports extension.[3] The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was the only former ECW championship reactivated by WWE for the new brand.[4] However, the title history was published by WWE on its website.[5]
Title reigns were determined either by professional wrestling matches with different tag teams (a duo of wrestlers) or stables (a group of more than two wrestlers) using ring names, involved in pre-existing scriptedfeuds or were awarded the title due to scripted circumstances; the championship could have also been vacated by the promotion. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or heroes as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches for the championship.
The title was mostly won at live events in eight American states. The inaugural champions were The Super Destroyers (A. J. Petrucci and Doug Stahl), who won a tournamentfinal at a live event to win the titles on June 23, 1992. Danny Doring and Roadkill, who won the titles on December 3, 2000 at the Massacre on 34th Streetpay-per-view event, were the final wrestlers to have held the championship before ECW filed for bankruptcy. At 283 days, The Super Destroyers' first reign was the longest, while The Dudley Boyz' eighth reign and the team of Raven and Stevie Richards' second reign were the shortest, at less than one day. With eight reigns, The Dudley Boyz held the most reigns as a tag team and individually. Overall, there were 51 reigns among 31 teams.
Reigns
Names
Name
Years
ECW Tag Team Championship
June 23, 1992 – September 18, 1993
NWA-ECW Tag Team Championship
September 18, 1993 – August 27, 1994
ECW World Tag Team Championship
August 27, 1994 – April 11, 2001
Reigns
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different
Hotbody and Candido won the belts, but all three wrestlers were recognized as champions, and were able to defend the titles in any combination via the Freebird Rule. Title change aired on May 25, 1993 via tape delay.
4
The Super Destroyers (A. J. Petrucci and Doug Stahl)
Whipwreck defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in a singles match to win both the tag team titles and the ECW World Television Championship; Cactus Jack came out and declared himself to be Mikey's partner after he won the match.
The Dudley Boyz defeated John Kronus in a handicap match as a result of a sidelining injury sustained by Saturn. Title change aired on June 26, 1997 via tape delay.
The Hardys, also known as the Hardy Boyz, are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of real-life brothers Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy, who are currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) They first began teaming together in 1993 on the independent circuit, winning the NWA 2000 Tag Team Championship in NWA and founding OMEGA Championship Wrestling, where they held the OMEGA Tag Team Championship. They signed contracts with the World Wrestling Federation in 1997. In 2000, they were joined by Lita, and the trio became Team Xtreme during her stay. They are the only team to have held the WWE/World, WCW, TNA, ROH, Raw, and SmackDown Tag Team Championships. They are considered one of the major teams that revived tag team wrestling during the Attitude Era. In 2012, WWE named them as one of the greatest tag teams in WWE history.
The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, are now owned by WWE. The championship was generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute worked finishes rather than contend in direct competition.
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in the American Wrestling Association from 1960 until the promotion folded in 1991.
The NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship was a singles championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's St. Louis Wrestling Club and Central States Wrestling promotions in the 1970s and 1980s. It was considered a "stepping stone" to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. A version of the Missouri Championship has been documented to exist in 1899, 1921, 1933 to 1934, 1937, 1947, 1950, and 1954 to 1955, but it was only in 1972 that a serious championship was established. Prior to the creation of the NWA the championship was not recognized outside of the region and used by regional promoters, it is even possible that competing Missouri Heavyweight Championships existed. The championship was abandoned in 1986, as the Central States promotion was being consolidated under Jim Crockett Promotions in order to counter the World Wrestling Federation's national expansion.
The Florida version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship was a major professional wrestling tag team championship. The title was defended sporadically in the National Wrestling Alliance affiliated Championship Wrestling from Florida from 1961 to 1962, 1978 to 1980, and then 1983 until 1986. While its name suggests it was defended throughout the United States, the title was actually a regional championship that was only defended throughout the Florida territory. The 1978-80 version of the United States Tag Team Championship belt inspired the current design for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, upon reactivation in 2022.
The NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship was a major title in Championship Wrestling from Florida, USA and is now the major title in NWA Florida Wrestling Alliance. It started in 1937 and was abandoned in 1949. It was picked back up in 1966 by CWF and lasted until 1987 when the company was purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions. In 1988, the newly created Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), soon renamed Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF), picked it back up in 1988 and it continued its lineage through NWA Florida, until they ceased operations in 2006. In 2009, Pro Wrestling Fusion revived the title until they left the NWA in 2011. For several months in 2012, a new Championship Wrestling from Florida affiliated with the NWA, briefly reviving the title until NWA Florida Underground Wrestling took over the championship.
The WCWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area–based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally created in June 1966 by WCWA's predecessor NWA Big Time Wrestling (BTW), billed as the local version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship before being renamed the NWA American Heavyweight Championship in May 1968. In 1982, Big Time Wrestling rebranded themselves as "World Class Championship Wrestling" (WCCW) and the championship was renamed the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship. In 1986 WCCW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance, creating the World Class Wrestling Association, replacing the WCCW American Heavyweight Championship with the WCWA Heavyweight Championship, replacing the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship as the top title recognized by the promotion. In 1989, the WCWA championship was unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship to become the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship as WCWA merged with the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) to become the United States Wrestling Association. In 1990 WCWA split from the USWA, but the promotion folded without determining a WCWA World Heavyweight Champion. As it is a professional wrestling championship, the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship was not won by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match.
The NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title that has existed since the 1930s. Though its exact date of creation isn't known, it is among the oldest championships used in professional wrestling today. The title has used a variety of different names over the years, which consists of initial changes to represent the various companies that have controlled the title at different times. Originally, it was simply known as the Texas Heavyweight Championship until its name was changed after the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948. For most of the title's existence, at least until the early 1990s, it was defended almost exclusively within the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio areas of Texas. From the 1930s to the mid-1960s, these cities and the surrounding towns were within the territory operated by Ed McLemore, which was known simply as Southwest Sports, Inc. at the time. After McLemore's death, the territory came under the control of Fritz Von Erich and was renamed as Big Time Wrestling. However, the promotion would be renamed World Class Championship Wrestling in the early 1980s, which is the name the territory is best remembered under today. The championship remained an NWA affiliated title until February 1986.
The USWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Memphis, Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA). The Continental Wrestling Association and World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) merged in 1989 to form the USWA. In the merger the USWA replaced both the WCWA World Tag Team Championship and the CWA Tag Team Championship with the USWA version. The promotion awarded Cactus Jack and Scott Braddock the championship after they won the WCWA championship on August 4, 1989. The USWA closed in 1997, with PG-13 as the final champions. There were a total of 116 reigns in the eight year lifetime of the championship.
The WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship was the secondary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area-basedWorld Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally known as the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship from its creation in 1942 until 1981. The championship was revived in 1987 as the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship, and used until 1990, when it was abandoned as WCWA was merged with the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) to become the United States Wrestling Association. The name was also used for a title by NWA Southwest from 1998 to 2011, also known as the NWA Southwest Texas Tag Team Championship. As it is a professional wrestling championship, it is won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match.
The NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling, which promoted shows in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington.
The WWC World Tag Team Championship is the tag team title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council.
The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until 1980. Originally the NWA Mid-America promoted their version of the NWA World Tag-Team titles but when they became defunct in 1977 the "Mid-America" title became the main title for the promotion. The titles were reactivated in 2001 under NWA Nashville's patronage and continued to exist until 2011 when they were again abandoned.
The Stampede International Tag Team Championship was the main tag team title in the Canadian professional wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling. It was created in 1958 as the NWA International Tag Team Championship. When promoter Stu Hart resigned from the National Wrestling Alliance in 1982 the title was renamed the Stampede International Tag Team Championship. When Stampede wrestling closed down in 1989 the titles were retired, but brought back in 2000 when Stampede Wrestling was restarted by Bruce Hart and Ross Hart. and remained active until the promotion closed in 2008.
The NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship was the main tag team championship in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling or NWA Gulf Coast. The Gulf Coast tag team championship is the successor for GCCW's version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship that was promoted in the Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi region from 1955 until 1967 where it was replaced by the "NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship. The Gulf Coast Tag Team championship was promoted from 1967 until 1978 where Southeast Championship Wrestling took control of the title renaming in back to the "NWA Southern Tag Team Championship" and promoted it in its "Southern Division" in 1978 and 1979. In 1980 the Southern Division was abandoned and the Northern Division of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship became the main title of SECW.
The NWA Central States Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team championship for the Heart of America Sports Attractions / Central States Wrestling promotion from 1979 until the promotion ceased to exist in 1988. The Central States Tag Team Championship had originally existed for a brief period of time in 1961, but its glory days date from 1979 to 1988, where it replaced the Central States version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Because the championship is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively but instead by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The championship is awarded after the chosen team "wins" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.
The NWA United States Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling (GCCW). A secondary title after the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship, it was one of many U.S. tag team championships recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance. It was unified with the NWA United States Tag Team Championship on April 15, 1974.
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