WWF International Tag Team Championship
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| WWF International Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Promotion | World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF) New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | June 1, 1969 (original) May 24, 1985 (second) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | 1972 (original) October 31, 1985 (second) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The WWF International Tag Team Championship was a tag team championship in the World Wide Wrestling Federation from 1969 to 1972 and in the renamed World Wrestling Federation and New Japan Pro-Wrestling for a short time in 1985.
Reigns[edit]
Over the championship's 16-year history, there were eight reigns between seven teams composed of 13 individual champions. The Rising Suns (Mitsu Arakawa and Toru Tanaka) were the inaugural champions. As a team, The Mongols (Bepo and Geeto) has the most reigns at two times, while individually, Geeto has the most reigns at three times. The Mongols' first reign was the longest at 368 days, while Bruno Sammartino and Dominic DeNucci's reign was the shortest at 14 days. Tarzan Tyler was the oldest champion at 43 years old, while Bepo was the youngest at 22 years old.
Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami were the final champions with a reign that lest for 159 days, before the title was deactivated for the second time in its history.
Names[edit]
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| WWWF International Tag Team Championship | June 1, 1969 – 1972 |
| WWF International Tag Team Championship | May 24, 1985 – October 31, 1985 |
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different |
| Days | Number of days held |
| † | Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | The Rising Suns (Mitsu Arakawa and Toru Tanaka) | June 1, 1969 | — | Japan | 1 | 190 | Were announced as having won a (fictitious) tournament in Japan to become the first champions. | |
| 2 | Tony Marino and Victor Rivera | December 9, 1969 | House show | New York, NY | 1 | 188 | This was a two-out-of-three falls match. | |
| † | Bruno Sammartino and The Battman | December 13, 1969 | House Show | Pittsburgh, PA | 1 | — | Defeat the Rising Suns (Mitsu Arakawa and Toru Tanaka) to win the championship; the title change four days prior in New York City was not recognized in Pittsburgh. Despite this match, Victor Rivera and Tony Marino continued to be recognized as champions in all areas of the WWWF territory outside of Pittsburgh. | |
| 3 | The Mongols (Bepo and Geto) | June 15, 1970 | House show | New York, NY | 1 | 368 | This was a two-out-of-three falls match. The Mongols began defending the championship solely in Pittsburgh beginning in February 1971. | |
| 4 | Bruno Sammartino (2) and Dominic DeNucci | June 18, 1971 | House show | Pittsburgh, PA | 1 | 14 | This was a two-out-of-three falls match. | |
| 5 | The Mongols (Bepo and Geeto) | July 2, 1971 | House Show | Pittsburgh, PA | 2 | 133 | ||
| 6 | Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler | November 12, 1971 | House Show | Pittsburgh, PA | 1 | 36 | Graham and Tyler additionally held the WWWF World Tag Team Championship during this reign, having previously won that title on June 3, 1971. | |
| 7 | Geeto Mongol (3) and Johnny DeFazio | December 18, 1971 | House show | Pittsburgh, PA | 1 | 197 | ||
| — | Deactivated | July 2, 1972 | — | — | — | — | The championship was abandoned when the WWWF's local Pittsburgh partner promotion was sold to the National Wrestling Federation. | |
| 8 | Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami | May 24, 1985 | IWGP and WWF Championship Series | Kobe, Japan | 1 | 159 | Defeated Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch in a tournament final to win the revived championship. | [1] |
| — | Deactivated | October 31, 1985 | — | — | — | — | The championship was abandoned when the WWF ended its partnership with NJPW. | |
Combined reigns[edit]
By team[edit]
| Rank | Team | No. of reigns | Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Mongols (Bepo and Geeto) | 2 | 501 |
| 2 | The Rising Suns (Mitsu Arakawa and Toru Tanaka) | 1 | 190 |
| 3 | Tony Marino and Victor Rivera | 1 | 188 |
| 4 | Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | 159 |
| 5 | Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler | 1 | 36 |
| 6 | Bruno Sammartino and Dominic DeNucci | 1 | 14 |
| Bepo Mongol and Johnny De Fazio | 1 | 14 |
By wrestler[edit]
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geeto | 3 | 698 |
| 2 | Bepo | 2 | 501 |
| 3 | Mitsu Arakawa | 1 | 190 |
| Toru Tanaka | 1 | 190 | |
| 5 | Tony Marino | 2 | 188 |
| 6 | Victor Rivera | 1 | 185 |
| 7 | Kengo Kimura | 1 | 159 |
| Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | 159 | |
| 9 | Luke Graham | 1 | 36 |
| Tarzan Tyler | 1 | 36 | |
| 11 | Bruno Sammartino | 2 | 14 |
| Dominic DeNucci | 1 | 14 | |
| Johnny De Fazio | 1 | 14 |
See also[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ The WWWF/WWF (now WWE) did not recognize the title reign of Bruno Sammartino and The Battman and instead recognized the reign of Sammartino and Dominic DeNucci as the shortest at 14 days.
References[edit]
- ^ Hoops, Brian (May 24, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 24): Harley Race wins NWA title due to interesting circumstances, Ric Flair beats Kerry Von Erich in Japan". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
