NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version) | |||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||
Promotion | Fred Kohler Enterprises | ||||||||||
Date established | 1953 [1] [2] | ||||||||||
Date retired | August 1960 [1] [2] | ||||||||||
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The Chicago version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship promoted by the Chicago-based Fred Kohler Enterprises, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). [1] [2] The championship was for two-man tag teams only. While the NWA Board of Directors mandated that there would only be one NWA World Heavyweight Championship, they did not regulate the use of championships labeled "NWA World Tag Team Championship", allowing any member that so desired to create their own local version. [3] As a result, as many as 13 different, regional versions were active in 1957, the highest number of active NWA World Tag Team Championships in existence at the same time. [Championships]
The championship was introduced in 1953 when the promoters awarded the championship to Lord James Blears and Lord Athol Layton. The championship was promoted from 1953 until 1960 when Fred Kohler left the NWA to help form the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and thus the AWA World Tag Team Championship became the top tag team championship in the Chicago area. [1] [2] The Chicago promotion would later be bought by Dick Afflis, who merged it with his Indianapolis-based territory. The last NWA World Tag Team Championship was won by the Shires brothers, Roy and Ray, on April 9, 1960. The Volkoffs, Boris and Nicoli, held the championship four times, the record for the Chicago version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Art Neilson and Reggie Lisowski held the championship for 371 days, the longest individual reign in the championship's seven-year history. Being a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively, but instead determined by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. [1] [2] The title is awarded after the chosen team "wins" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport. [4]
No. | The overall championship reign |
Reign | The reign number for the specific wrestler listed. |
Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands |
N/A | The specific information is not known |
— | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
Indicates that there was a period where the lineage is undocumented due to the lack of written documentation in that time period. |
No. | Champions | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lord James Blears and Lord Athol Layton | 1 | 1953 | [Note 2] | N/A | N/A | Awarded | [1] [2] |
2 | Bill Melby and Billy Darnell | 1 | July 25, 1953 | 84 | Chicago, Illinois | live event | Defeated Blears and Martino Angelo who substituted Layton who had suffered an injury. | [1] [2] |
3 | Ben and Mike Sharpe | 1 | October 17, 1953 | [Note 3] | Chicago, Illinois | live event | [1] [2] | |
— | Vacated | — | 1953 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Vacated when the Sharpe brothers stop working for the company | [1] [2] |
4 | Bill Melby and Billy Darnell | 2 | 1954 | [Note 4] | live event | [Note 5] | Melby and Darnell were awarded the championship. | [1] [2] |
5 | Reggie Lisowski and Art Neilson | 1 | February 13, 1954 | 371 | live event | [Note 5] | Defeated Melby and Jack Witzig who substituted for an injured Darnell | [1] [2] |
6 | Pat O'Connor and Roy McClarity | 1 | March 19, 1955 | [Note 6] | Moline, Illinois | live event | [1] [2] | |
7 | Guy Brunetti and Joe Tangara | 1 | February 1956 | [Note 7] | live event | [Note 5] | [1] [2] | |
8 | Mike DiBiase and Danny Plechas | 1 | February 18, 1956 | [Note 8] | Moline, Illinois | live event | [1] [2] | |
9 | Reggie and Stan Lisowski | 1 | March 1956 | [Note 9] | live event | [Note 5] | [1] [2] | |
— | Vacated | — | 1956 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Championship vacated for undocumented reasons | [1] [2] |
10 | Bobby Bruns and Roy McClarity | 1 | November 3, 1956 | [Note 10] | live event | Des Moines, Iowa | Won the championship in a match against Nicolai and Boris Volkoff | [1] [2] |
— | Vacated | — | November 1956 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Championship vacated for undocumented reasons | [1] [2] |
11 | Nicolai and Boris Volkoff | 1 | November 24, 1956 | [Note 11] | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | live event | Won the vacant championship in a match against Reggie and Stan Lisowski | [1] [2] [5] |
12 | Reggie and Stan Lisowski | 2 | December 1956 | [Note 12] | [Note 5] | live event | [1] [2] | |
13 | Nicolai and Boris Volkoff | 2 | December 15, 1956 | 161 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | live event | [1] [2] | |
14 | Verne Gagne and Édouard Carpentier | 1 | May 25, 1957 | [Note 13] | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | live event | [1] [2] [6] | |
15 | Nicolai and Boris Volkoff | 3 | June 1957 | [Note 14] | [Note 5] | live event | [1] [2] | |
16 | Reggie and Stan Lisowski | 3 | June 29, 1957 | 238 | Chicago, Illinois | live event | [1] [2] | |
17 | Nicolai and Boris Volkoff | 4 | February 22, 1958 | 266 | Chicago, Illinois | live event | [1] [2] [7] | |
18 | Jackie and Don Fargo | 1 | November 15, 1958 | [Note 15] | Chicago, Illinois | live event | [1] [2] | |
— | Vacated | — | 1959 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Championship vacated for undocumented reasons | [1] [2] |
19 | Roy and Ray Shire | 1 | August 6, 1959 | 189 | Indianapolis, Indiana | live event | defeated Angelo Poffo and Dick Afflis in a tournament final | [1] [2] |
20 | Gene Kiniski and Dick Afflis | 1 | February 11, 1960 | 58 | [Note 5] | live event | [1] [2] | |
21 | Roy and Ray Shire | 2 | April 9, 1960 | [Note 16] | [Note 5] | live event | [1] [2] | |
— | Retired | — | August 1960 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Championship retired when promoter Fred Kohler left the NWA to help for the American Wrestling Association, replacing the championship with the AWA World Tag Team Championship | [1] [2] |
Key
Symbol | Meaning |
---|---|
¤ | The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used. |
Rank | Team | No. of reigns | Combined days |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicolai and Boris Volkoff | 4 | 435¤ |
2 | Reggie Lisowski and Art Neilson | 1 | 371 |
3 | Roy and Ray Shire | 2 | 333¤ |
4 | Pat O'Connor and Roy McClarity | 1 | 319¤ |
5 | Reggie and Stan Lisowski | 3 | 117¤ |
6 | Bill Melby and Billy Darnell | 2 | 85¤ |
7 | Gene Kiniski and Dick Afflis | 1 | 58 |
8 | Jackie and Don Fargo | 1 | 47¤ |
9 | Mike DiBiase and Danny Plechas | 1 | 12¤ |
10 | Verne Gagne and Édouard Carpentier | 1 | 7¤ |
11 | Ben and Mike Sharpe | 1 | 1¤ |
Bobby Bruns and Roy McClarity | 1 | 1¤ | |
Guy Brunetti and Joe Tangara | 1 | 1¤ | |
Lord James Blears and Lord Athol Layton | 1 | 1¤ |
Key
Symbol | Meaning |
---|---|
¤ | The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used. |
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Reggie Lisowski | 4 | 488¤ |
2 | Boris Volkoff | 4 | 435¤ |
Nicolai Volkoff | 4 | 435¤ | |
4 | Art Neilson | 1 | 371¤ |
5 | Ray Shire | 2 | 333¤ |
Roy Shire | 2 | 333¤ | |
7 | Pat O'Connor | 1 | 319¤ |
Roy McClarity | 1 | 319¤ | |
9 | Stan Lisowski | 3 | 117¤ |
10 | Bill Melby | 2 | 85¤ |
Billy Darnell | 2 | 85¤ | |
12 | Dick Afflis | 1 | 58 |
Gene Kiniski | 1 | 58 | |
14 | Don Fargo | 1 | 47¤ |
Jackie Fargo | 1 | 47¤ | |
16 | Danny Plechas | 1 | 12¤ |
Mike DiBiase | 1 | 12¤ | |
18 | Édouard Carpentier | 1 | 7¤ |
Verne Gagne | 1 | 7¤ | |
20 | Ben Sharpe | 1 | 1¤ |
Bobby Bruns | 1 | 1¤ | |
Guy Brunetti | 1 | 1¤ | |
Joe Tangara | 1 | 1¤ | |
Lord Athol Layton | 1 | 1¤ | |
Lord James Blears | 1 | 1¤ | |
Mike Sharpe | 1 | 1¤ | |
Roy McClarity | 1 | 1¤ |
The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World Tag Team Championship" without oversight from the board of directors. The first of these NWA World Tag Team Championships was created in 1950 in the San Francisco territory, which while billed as a "World" title was essentially restricted to the specific NWA territory. In 1957 as many as 13 versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were confirmed to be in existence. In 1982 Big Time Wrestling, based in Los Angeles, closed and abandoned their version of the championship. The following year, the World Wrestling Federation, an NWA member at the time and which had its own World Tag Team Championship, split from the NWA in acrimony. This meant that only the Jim Crockett Promotions' NWA World Tag Team Championship was active within the NWA, but still being controlled by JCP, not the NWA board of directors. In 1991 that championship was renamed the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
The Los Angeles version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was the main tag team professional wrestling championship of the North American Wrestling Alliance, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which promoted shows in and around Los Angeles. The championship was the first of at least 17 championships to use that name between 1949 and 1992, as the NWA Board of Directors allowed each territory to create its own version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship if it so desired. In 1957 there were at least 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship recognized in the United States.[Championships] Since it was a professional wrestling championship, it was not won through legitimate competitive matches, but instead determined by the decisions of the booker(s) of a wrestling promotion.
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The Buffalo Athletic Club version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was a regional professional wrestling championship for tag teams that existed from 1956 until 1970. The championship was promoted by National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member the Buffalo Athletic Club under promoters Ed Don George and Bobby Bruins, whose territory covered most of Ohio and portions of upstate New York. Many NWA territories used a version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship as the NWA bylaws allowed each territory to use the name. In 1957 no less than 13 different NWA World Tag Team Championships were promoted across the United States.[Championships] In 1970 the Buffalo Athletic Club left the NWA to form an independent wrestling promotion known as the National Wrestling Federation, at which point they replaced the NWA World Tag Team Championship with the NWF World Tag Team Championship. Like all professional wrestling championships, this version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was not won or lost competitively but instead determined by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The title was awarded after the chosen team "won" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.
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The Salt Lake Wrestling Club version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship for tag teams that was promoted between 1955 and 1959 in the Salt Lake Wrestling Club territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Local promoter Dave Reynolds promoted the championship primarily in Utah, but would occasionally runs shows in Idaho and Washington state. Since the promotion was a member of the NWA, the Salt Lake Wrestling Club was entitled to promote their local version of the championship, as the NWA bylaws did not restrict the use of that championship in the same way they restricted the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to one nationally recognized championship. In 1957 there were no less than 13 distinct versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship promoted across the United States.[Championships] Because the championship was a professional wrestling championship, it was not contested for in legitimate sporting events, but instead determined by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion.
The Iowa/Nebraska version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was a National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) professional wrestling tag team championship that was active between 1953 and 1958. The championship was controlled by the NWA's Iowa booking office under Pinkie George and the Nebraska booking office under Max Clayton. Both George and Clayton were founding members of the NWA in 1948 and served on the Board of Directors that decided to let any NWA member, known as a NWA territory to create a local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. The Iowa/Nebraska version was one of at least 13 championships bearing that name in 1957.[Championships] As with all professional wrestling championships, this championship was not won or lost competitively but instead based on the decisions of the bookers of a wrestling promotion which determines the outcome of the matches.