Unified WWE Tag Team Championship
![]() Chris Jericho, as Unified WWE Tag Team Champion, holding the World Tag Team (on shoulder) and WWE Tag Team Championship (around waist) belts. | |
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The Unified WWE Tag Team Championship is the name used by the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for the following two world tag team championships, which have been unified but kept active with separate title histories following WrestleMania XXV on April 5, 2009:[1][2]
- World Tag Team Championship, established in 1971 and originally exclusive to the Raw brand.
- WWE Tag Team Championship, established in 2002 and originally exclusive to SmackDown.
Unified WWE Tag Team Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes.
History
In late 2008 and early 2009, WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) feuded with the World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz, with the two teams exchanging victories in non-title matches and retaining their respective titles against each other.[3][4] On the March 17 edition of ECW, it was announced that at WrestleMania XXV both teams would defend their titles against each other and the winning team would hold both titles.[5] The Colons defeated Morrison and Miz, and thus unified the titles.[6]
The Unified WWE Tag Team Championship is available to both (although it was also avalible to ECW when active as well) brands of WWE, though WWE.com officially lists the titles under whichever brand the champions belong to. Because of this, the champions can appear on either Raw or SmackDown, or when an active promotion it was also avalible to ECW .[7]
Reigns
The current champions are The Miz and The Big Show, who are in their first reign as World and WWE Tag Team Champions. The Miz has previously held the both the World and WWE Tag Team Championships while teaming with John Morrison, while The Big Show has held the unified championships once while teaming with Chris Jericho. They won the titles on the February 8, 2010 episode of Raw in a Triple Threat Tag Team Elimination match that also included defending champions D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) and The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows).[8]
References
- ^ "World Tag Team Championship title history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ "WWE Tag Team Championship title history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-01-23). "The Rumbling of Foul Play". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-02-13). "Prelude to Satan's Structure". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ Medalis, Kara (2009-03-17). "Extremely lucky night". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-04-05). "Brothers united". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-04-27). "Judgment is coming". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ^ "Raw's pit stomp". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-02-08.