The Impact World Tag Team Championship (formally known as the TNA World Tag Team Championship) is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

which is owned by the Impact Wrestling

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. The current champions are

The Motor City Machine Guns The Motor City Machine Guns is an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. They are currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where they are three-time and current Impact World Tag Team Champions. The tea ...

( Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley), who are in their third reign as a team. It was created and debuted on May 14, 2007 at the taping of then-TNA's primary television program, ''

TNA Impact! ''Impact!'' (stylized as ''IMPACT!''), also known as ''IMPACT! on AXS TV'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)) tha ...

''. It was officially introduced worldwide on the May 17, 2007 edition of TNA's online

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

TNA Today ''TNA Today'' was an online professional wrestling program produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), now known as Impact Wrestling. It was hosted by interviewer Jeremy Borash, with occasional appearances by Don West. The show purported to ...

''. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a pre-determined match.

History

The Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion formed in May 2002. Later that same year, TNA were granted control over the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) governing body, subsequently becoming an official NWA

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

as NWA–TNA. On June 19, 2002, NWA–TNA held its first show: a weekly pay-per-view (PPV)

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of e ...

. The

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

of the telecast was a twenty–man

Gauntlet for the Gold A Gauntlet for the Gold match is a professional wrestling match used in Impact Wrestling. Match format Different from the other gauntlet matches, in which one competitor faces several others in turn, the Gauntlet for the Gold match is very sim ...

match—involving all twenty men trying to throw each other over the top rope and down to the floor in order to eliminate them, until there are two men left who wrestle a standard match—to become the first ever TNA–era NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Ken Shamrock Kenneth Wayne Shamrock (''né'' Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American bare-knuckle boxing promoter and semi-retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and kickboxer. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Cha ...

defeated Malice to win the

vacant Within the context of building construction and building codes, "occupancy" refers to the use, or intended use, of a building, or portion of a building, for the shelter or support of persons, animals or property. A closely related meaning is t ...

championship with

Ricky Steamboat Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promot ...

Special Guest Referee In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. The referee's purpose is similar to that of referees in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, that is, as an arbiter of the rul ...

at the event. TNA crowned the first TNA–era NWA World Tag Team Champions at their third weekly PPV event on July 3, 2002, when the team of

A.J. Styles Allen Neal Jones (born June 2, 1977), better known by his ring name AJ Styles (also stylized as A.J. Styles), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Regarded as one of the best ...

and

Jerry Lynn Jeremy Lynn (born June 12, 1963), better known by the ring name Jerry Lynn, is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer and coach. He has worked for promotions such as World Championship ...

defeated The Rainbow Express (

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

and Lenny Lane) in a tournament final to win the championship.

Creation

The NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships were contested for in TNA until the morning of May 13, 2007. On that day, NWA's Executive Director

Robert Trobich The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a g ...

announced that the NWA were ending their five–year agreement with TNA, which had allowed them full control over both titles. Trobich went on to state that effective that morning, then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion

Christian Cage William Jason Reso (born November 30, 1973) is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Christian Cage. He is best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring name Christ ...

and the

Team 3D The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team that consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley (Mark LoMonaco) and D-Von Dudley (Devon Hughes). The team was also joined by various Dudley family me ...

pairing of

Brother Devon Devon Hughes (born August 1, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he works backstage as a producer. Hughes wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1995 to 1999 and for the WWF/E ...

and Brother Ray, then-NWA World Tag Team Champions, were stripped of their respective championships. The motivation behind these actions was that Cage refused to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against wrestlers from NWA territories. That same day, TNA were scheduled to produce their Sacrifice 2007 PPV event, in which both Cage and Team 3D were to defend their respective championships. On the

card Card or The Card may refer to: * Various types of plastic cards: **By type ***Magnetic stripe card *** Chip card *** Digital card **By function ***Payment card ****Credit card **** Debit card ****EC-card ****Identity card ****European Health Insur ...

, Cage was scheduled to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against

Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler, Olympic gold medalist in American freestyle wrestling, and former collegiate wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in WWE and Total Nonstop Action ...

and Sting in a

three-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. Team 3D were set to defend the NWA World Tag Team Championship against the team of

Scott Steiner Scott Rechsteiner (born July 29, 1962), better known by the ring name Scott Steiner, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Steiner is perhaps best known for his time in World Championshi ...

and Tomko and the team made up of Hernandez and Homicide, who were known as

The Latin American Xchange The Latin American Xchange (LAX) is a professional wrestling stable that has wrestled in various incarnations primarily for Total Nonstop Action / Impact Wrestling and currently in Major League Wrestling (MLW). The group achieved initial succe ...

(LAX), in another three-way match. That night before each contest, the on-screen graphic used to refer to the champions and their respective championships, credited both Cage and Team 3D as still being NWA Champions. Team 3D defeated Steiner and Tomko and LAX in the three-way tag team match to retain the "World Tag Team Championship", while Angle defeated Cage and Sting to win the "World Heavyweight Championship". On May 17, 2007,

Jeremy Borash Jeremy Borash (born July 19, 1974), is an American professional wrestling play-by-play commentator, announcer, ring announcer, booker, interviewer, and producer who is currently signed to WWE. He is known for his work in Impact Wrestling as ...

and TNA's primary authority figure at the time,

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

, unveiled the TNA World Tag Team Championship belt on that day's edition of TNA's online

'' and awarded it to Team 3D as a result of them being the NWA Tag Team Champions before the NWA/TNA split; in the process making them the first official champions.

Belt designs

During the championship's entire history, it has had three designs. Until

Destination X (2017) Destination X (2017) (aka ''Impact!: Destination X'') was a professional wrestling event produced by Global Force Wrestling (GFW) promotion, which took place on August 17, 2017 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the thirteenth event u ...

, it had a leather strap covered with four small gold plates that has an imprint of the

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

centered in the middle with TNA's official logo at the top of each. The center golden plate of the belt also has an imprint of a globe, with TNA's official logo engraved over it. The words "World Tag Team" are placed above the globe, while the words "Wrestling Champion" are placed below it. At Destination X 2017, a recoloured version of the GFW Tag Team Championships from the original promotion was revealed as the new tag team championships. The main plate had the Global Force Wrestling logo to the left and the words "Tag Team Champions" centered on the bottom of the belt. The top of the main plate had a globe, with a bird below it. The sideplates had the words "Tag Team" on the top and "Champions" on the bottom, with the ''

GFW Impact! ''Impact!'' (stylized as ''IMPACT!''), also known as ''IMPACT! on AXS TV'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)) tha ...

'' logo on the left sideplate and the GFW logo on the right sideplate. After Jeff Jarrett left the company and took the GFW name with him, all championships have been updated with an Impact Wrestling logo to cover the GFW logo. At Redemption on April 22, 2018, Impact revealed new championships. The main plate is oblong, similar to the

WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship The WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was a championship contested in World Championship Wrestling throughout 1991. It was considered a revived version of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship that was used in Jim Crockett Promotions ...

. It has the Impact logo at a diagonal angle centered between the words "Tag Team" on the top and "Champion" on the bottom. It features two designs of an owl above and below the words.

Championship Tournament(s)

TNA World Tag Team Championship Tournament (2015)

Between March 14 and March 16, 2015 episodes of '' Impact Wrestling'' a tournament was held to crown new TNA World Tag Team Champions.

Reigns

file:Sabin TNA Tag Champion.jpg, 175px, Three-time and current champions

- Chris Sabin (left) and Alex Shelley The inaugural champions were Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray), who were awarded the championship on the May 17, 2007 edition of ''TNA Today''. At days, The North (professional wrestling), The North's (

Ethan Page Julian Micevski (born September 20, 1989), better known by his ring name Ethan Page, is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Firm. Page is best known for his work in Imp ...

and

Josh Alexander Joshua Lemay (born May 29, 1987) is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he performs under the ring name Josh Alexander. He is a two-time Impact World Champion, with his second reign being the longest reig ...

) reign is the longest in the title's history. Eric Young/Super Eric and Kaz's only reign holds the record for shortest reign in the title's history at a half day. Individually, James Storm holds the record with seven reigns, while Beer Money and The Wolves ( Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) share the record of five reigns as a team. Although the title is a

World Tag Team Championship The world tag team championship is the name usually given to the primary tag team championship (professional wrestling), championships in professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotions, promotions. Nomenclature The name of the promo ...

, three wrestlers have held the championship by themselves — Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, and Matt Morgan. Joe held the championship during his entire reign alone; however, Angle held the championship alone for 15 days until Sting won a match involving three other competitors to become Angle's partner, and Morgan held the title after turning on and (

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe, as a noun, is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged ...

) injuring his tag team championship partner Hernandez. Overall, there have been 63 reigns shared between 65 wrestlers and 42 teams. The current champions are

( Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) who are in their third reign both as a team and individually. They defeated

Heath and Rhino Heath and Rhino are an American professional wrestling tag team currently signed to Impact Wrestling where they are former one-time Impact World Tag Team Champions. As a team, they are best known for their time in WWE, where they originally ...

on December 9, 2022 in Pembroke Pines, Florida during the ''Impact'' tapings to win the titles (aired on December 15).Spoiler On Title Change at Impact Wrestling Taping - 411 Mania.com
/ref>

References

External links

Impact Wrestling World Tag Team Championships
at Cagematch.com {{good article Impact Wrestling championships Tag team wrestling championships 2007 in professional wrestling