World Tag Team Championship (WWE)


The World Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two male tag team championships for WWE's main roster, along with the WWE Tag Team Championship on SmackDown. The current champions are The Usos, who are in their fourth reign as a team, while individually, it is the fifth reign for Jey and the fourth for Jimmy. They won the title by defeating previous champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee on the December 29, 2025, episode of Raw.
The championship was originally established as the WWE Tag Team Championship on October 3, 2002, and the team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were the inaugural champions. It was introduced for the SmackDown brand as a second title for tag teams in the promotion to complement WWE's original World Tag Team Championship, which became exclusive to Raw. Both titles were unified in 2009 and were collectively referred to as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship while officially remaining independently active until the original World Tag Team Championship was formally decommissioned in 2010.
As a result of the 2016 WWE Draft, the championship became exclusive to Raw and was renamed as the Raw Tag Team Championship, with SmackDown creating their own counterpart, the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. From May 2022 until April 2024, both titles were held and defended together as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, with each maintaining their individual lineages. Under the Undisputed banner, both titles simultaneously became the first tag team championships to be defended in the main event of WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, which occurred as the main event of WrestleMania 39 - Night 1 in April 2023. The titles would again be defended in the main event of a pay-per-view and livestreaming event at Night of Champions the following month. The titles were then split at WrestleMania XL in April 2024 with the Raw Tag Team Championship subsequently renamed as the World Tag Team Championship with the SmackDown title becoming the WWE Tag Team Championship.

History

From 1971 until 2002, American professional wrestling promotion WWE, then known as the World Wrestling Federation, held the primary men's world tag team championship, the original World Tag Team Championship, as the sole tag team championship. Following The Invasion storyline, WWF's roster doubled in size due to the influx of wrestlers from the former promotions, World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling. For a brief period, it co-existed with the WCW Tag Team Championship until it was unified with the WWF Tag Team Championship in November 2001. As a result, the WWF introduced the brand extension in March 2002 to divide its roster between the Raw and SmackDown! brands where wrestlers would exclusively perform on their respective weekly television programs. The original World Tag Team Championship initially became exclusive to SmackDown!, but was later reassigned to Raw, leaving the former without a tag team title. As a result, SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon introduced the WWE Tag Team Championship and commissioned it to be the tag team title for the SmackDown! brand on October 3, 2002. She also announced that the inaugural champions would be determined from an eight-team tournament. At No Mercy on October 20, 2002, the team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defeated Rey Mysterio and Edge in the tournament final to become the inaugural WWE Tag Team Champions.
On October 17, 2007, SmackDown! and ECW announced a talent sharing agreement that enabled talent from either brand's roster to compete on both brands. As a result, the title became eligible to be contended and defended on both brands. In late 2008 through early 2009, reigning WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns engaged in rivalry with reigning World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz, which resulted in the announcement on the March 17 episode of ECW that at WrestleMania 25, both teams would defend their titles against each other and the winning team would hold both titles. The Colóns defeated Morrison and Miz, and thus unified the titles into what became known as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the umbrella term for what officially remained two active championships that were now collectively defended. The championships would be defended as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship on any brand until August 2010. That month, the Anonymous Raw General Manager announced that the World Tag Team Championship would be decommissioned in favor of continuing the WWE Tag Team Championship, which received a new, single set of championship belts, which were presented to reigning champions The Hart Dynasty by Bret Hart. The WWE Tag Team Championship, which dropped the "unified" moniker, subsequently became the sole tag team championship in WWE, available to any brand. The first brand extension then ended in August 2011.
Following the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, reigning champions The New Day were drafted to the Raw brand, making the championship exclusive to Raw. In response, SmackDown created the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on August 23, 2016. The WWE Tag Team Championship was subsequently renamed to Raw Tag Team Championship and The New Day were the first champions to hold the title under its new name. In 2019, WWE's developmental territory NXT became the promotion's third major brand when it was moved to the USA Network in September, thus making the NXT Tag Team Championship the third major tag team title for men in WWE. However, this recognition was reversed when NXT reverted to its original function as a developmental brand in September 2021.
At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, 2018, reigning Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus were scheduled to defend the title against Braun Strowman and a partner of his choosing. At the event, Strowman revealed that his partner would be a fan from the live audience. He then went out into the crowd and picked 10-year old Nicholas, and the two defeated Cesaro and Sheamus for the title. This made Nicholas the youngest WWE champion in history. Nicholas was also revealed to be the son of WWE referee, John Cone. The following night on Raw, the two relinquished the titles.
During the May 20, 2022, episode of SmackDown, reigning SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defeated reigning Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro in a Winners Take All match to claim both championships and become recognized as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. WWE had billed the match as a championship unification match; however, both titles remained independently active. The Usos had defended both titles together across both brands as the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, but on a couple of occasions in early 2023, they also defended the titles separately.
In the main event of WrestleMania 39 Night 1, The Usos defended the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against the team of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. This subsequently made both the Raw and SmackDown titles the first tag team championships to be defended in the main event of WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. At the event, Owens and Zayn defeated The Usos to become champions. The titles would again be defended in the main event of a pay-per-view and livestreaming event at Night of Champions the following month on May 27 when Owens and Zayn retained the titles against The Bloodline.
At WrestleMania XL Night 1 on April 6, 2024, The Judgment Day defended the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in a Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder match in which both sets of championships had to be retrieved for the match to end. As a result, the championships were split with Awesome Truth winning the Raw Tag Team Championship while A-Town Down Under won the SmackDown titles. A week later on the April 15 episode of Raw, the Raw Tag Team Championship was renamed as the World Tag Team Championship with a new set of championship belts. The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was then renamed as the WWE Tag Team Championship with its own new set of belts on the April 19 episode of SmackDown.

Inaugural WWE Tag Team Championship Tournament (2002)

Brand designation history

Following the events of the WWE brand extension, an annual WWE draft was established, in which select members of WWE's roster are reassigned to a different brand. After the WWE Tag Team Championship was unified with the World Tag Team Championship as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the champions could appear and defend the titles on any WWE brand. The World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned in August 2010, leaving the WWE Tag Team Championship as WWE's sole tag team title, which dropped the "Unified" moniker, received a new single set of belts, and continued to be defended on any brand. The brand extension was discontinued on August 29, 2011, but it was revived on July 19, 2016. The following is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the current World Tag Team Championship between the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.
Date of transitionBrandNotes
October 3, 2002SmackDownChampionship established as the WWE Tag Team Championship for SmackDown after the World Tag Team Championship became exclusive to Raw. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit became the inaugural champions at No Mercy.
ECWThe WWE Tag Team Championship moved to ECW after John Morrison and The Miz, members of the ECW brand, defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. However, as part of a talent exchange agreement between SmackDown and ECW, teams of either brand could challenge for the title.
July 20, 2008SmackDownThe WWE Tag Team Championship returned to SmackDown after Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, members of the SmackDown brand, defeated John Morrison and The Miz to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. The talent exchange agreement was still in effect during this time.
April 5, 2009N/AAt WrestleMania 25, The Colóns unified the WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. Both titles remained active and were defended on any brand.
The World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned in August 2010, and "Unified" was dropped from the name.
July 19, 2016RawReintroduction of brand split.
WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day were drafted to Raw during the 2016 WWE Draft.
The title was renamed to Raw Tag Team Championship after SmackDown introduced the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
The title was renamed to World Tag Team Championship on the April 15, 2024, episode of Raw.