The NXT UK Tag Team Championship was a men's

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 o ...

tag team

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 ...

that was created and promoted by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

. It was defended on the

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' is a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the s ...

brand division, a sister brand of WWE's

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

based in the United Kingdom. Established on 18 June 2018, the inaugural championship team was James Drake and

Zack Gibson Jack Rea (born 8 August 1990) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Rip Fowler. He is also known for his work as Zack Gibson on the UK independent circuit. H ...

. On 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide, the title was unified into the

NXT Tag Team Championship The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on January 23 ...

, officially retiring the title in the process, with the team of

Brooks Jensen Benjamin Buchanan (born August 21, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Brooks Jensen. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Josh Brigg ...

and

Josh Briggs Joshua Bruns (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Josh Briggs. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Brooks ...

recognized as the final champions.

History

In a press conference at

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on 15 December 2016, the American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

announced plans to establish a United Kingdom-based

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

on which professional wrestlers from the country would compete. The

WWE United Kingdom Championship The NXT United Kingdom Championship was a men's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was primarily defended as the top championship of the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE ...

(later renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship) was established that same day, however, it was not until mid-2018 when

was formally established as the United Kingdom-based brand, and sister brand of the American-based

. On 18 June during the first night of the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament, the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, along with the

NXT UK Women's Championship The NXT UK Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was defended on the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory NXT ba ...

, was announced for the NXT UK brand. A four-team

single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

took place on the 24 and 25 November tapings of ''

'' (aired 2 and 9 January 2019, respectively). The finals occurred at TakeOver: Blackpool on 12 January, where the team of James Drake and

defeated

Moustache Mountain Moustache Mountain was a British professional wrestling tag team consisting of Trent Seven and Tyler Bate, Bate is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand and Seven worked for WWE until his release in August 2022. They are one-t ...

(

Trent Seven Benjamin Maurice Webb (born 21 August 1981), better known by the ring name Trent Seven, is an English professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and actor. He was signed to WWE on their NXT UK brand, where he is a former NXT UK Tag Team Champion ...

and

Tyler Bate Tyler Bate (born 7 March 1997) is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In 2017, he became the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion (later renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship), ...

) to become the inaugural champions. In August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would go on hiatus and would relaunch as NXT Europe in 2023. As such, NXT UK's championships were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts. Subsequently, the NXT UK Tag Team Championship was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide. At the event,

Pretty Deadly ''Pretty Deadly'' is a creator-owned American comic book series by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Spanish artist Emma Ríos, distributed by Image Comics. The story combines elements from western and horror genres, and draws on aspects from mythology a ...

(Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) defeated NXT Tag Team Champions

The Creed Brothers The Creed Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Brutus Creed (Drew Kasper; born May 13, 1996) and Julius Creed (Jacob Kasper; born October 3, 1994). They are currently working for the professional wrestli ...

(Brutus Creed and Julius Creed), Gallus (

Mark Coffey Mark Coffey (born February 13, 1990) is a Scottish professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand. He is the younger brother of Joe Coffey and the pair occasionally tag team together as The Coffey Brothers. ...

and Wolfgang), and reigning NXT UK Tag Team Champions

and

in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match to unify the NXT UK Tag Team Championship into the NXT Tag Team Championship, with Jensen and Briggs recognized as the final NXT UK Tag Team Champions. Pretty Deadly went forward as the unified NXT Tag Team Champions.

Inaugural tournament

Belt design

The championship belts were unveiled by WWE

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

and NXT head

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

and NXT UK General Manager

Johnny Saint John Miller (born 29 June 1941) is an English professional wrestling authority figure and retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he served as the on-screen general manager of the now defunct NXT UK under his career- ...

on the 14 October 2018 tapings of ''NXT UK'' in Plymouth. The center plate of the championship belts was modeled on the NXT UK logo, which itself took inspiration from the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse (instead of the traditional unicorn) with a vertical NXT logo between them; the animals were gold while the logo was silver (the WWE logo was affixed at the center of the X). Above and below the logo were two halves of the globe which were colored blue. A banner above the upper globe read "UK Tag Team" while a banner below the lower globe read "Champions". A gold ornamented border with red jewels circled the center plate. Gold and black divider bars with red jewels at each end separated the center plate from the belt's two side plates. In what became a prominent feature of WWE's championship belts, the side plates featured removable center sections that could be replaced with the reigning champion's logo; the default side plates featured the WWE logo on a blue globe. The plates were on a black leather strap.

Reigns

Over the championship's four year history, there were seven reigns between seven teams composed of 14 individual champions and one vacancy. James Drake and

were the inaugural champions. Gallus (

and Wolfgang) had the longest reign, which WWE recognizes as lasting 497 days (beginning 17 October 2019 and ending 25 February 2021); the actual length of their reign is undeterminable as the real date they lost the title is unknown.

Flash Morgan Webster Gavin Watkins (born 13 April 1990) is a Welsh professional wrestler. He is most well known for his time in WWE where he performed under the ring name "Flash" Morgan Webster. Webster was one of the first Welsh Champions in WWE history alongside t ...

and Mark Andrews had the shortest reign at 34 days; however, WWE recognizes their reign as lasting 47 days due to tape delay, and as such, recognize that Ashton Smith and Oliver Carter had the shortest reign at 21 days also due to tape delay (although Smith and Carter's reign actually lasted 62 days). Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs are recognized as the final champions. The oldest champion was Trent Seven, winning the title at 40 years old, while the youngest was Jensen, winning it at 20.

Notes

References

External links

Official NXT UK Tag Team Championship title history
{{British wrestling titles WWE NXT championships Tag team wrestling championships National professional wrestling championships

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 ...