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| AWA World Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The last version of the championship belts used | |||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||
| Promotion | American Wrestling Association | ||||||||||
| Date established | 1960 | ||||||||||
| Date retired | 1991 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in the American Wrestling Association from 1960 until the promotion folded in 1991.
History
When the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club operated by Verne Gagne withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance in May 1960, Stan Kowalski and Tiny Mills were the recognized champions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Minneapolis version). At the time, the AWA continued to recognize the NWA champions as their World champions. However, by August 1960, and having recently recaptured the NWA Tag Team championships for a second time, Kowalski and Mills were recognized as the first AWA World Tag Team Champions when AWA stopped recognizing NWA champions.
As the promotion grew, the AWA World Tag Team Championship became one of the most coveted tag team titles in the United States from the beginning until the late 1980s, when the AWA's talent roster was depleted by the World Wrestling Federation and Jim Crockett Promotions. This led to the retirement of the titles when the AWA closed.[1]
Title history
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| 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 | Murder, Inc. (Stan Kowalski and Tiny Mills) |
August 10, 1960 | N/A | N/A | 1 | 55[Note 1] | Kowalski and Mills were awarded the NWA World Tag Team Championship on August 1960. They were recognized as the first AWA champions when the AWA withdrew from the NWA and recognized its own champions. | |
| 2 | Hard Boiled Haggerty and Len Montana / Gene Kiniski | October 4, 1960 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 231 | Montana suffered a broken leg in a match against Verne Gagne. On March 18, 1961, Haggerty chose Kiniski as his new partner. | |
| 3 | Leo Nomellini and Wilbur Snyder | May 23, 1961 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 57 | [2] | |
| 4 | Hard Boiled Haggerty and Gene Kiniski | July 19, 1961 | Live event | St. Paul, Minnesota | 2 | 20 | [3] | |
| — | Vacated | August 8, 1961 | Live event | — | — | — | Title vacated after Haggerty and Kiniski split up when Haggerty's interference in a cage match between Kiniski and Verne Gagne backfires. | |
| 5 | Hard Boiled Haggerty (3) and Bob Geigel | September 26, 1961 | Live event | St. Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 51 | Haggerty defeated Kiniski for control of the titles and chose Geigel as his new partner. | |
| 6 | Pat Kennedy and Dale Lewis | November 16, 1961 | Live event | Rochester, Minnesota | 1 | 7 | ||
| 7 | Bob Geigel (2) and Otto Von Krupp | November 23, 1961 | Live event | Rochester, Minnesota | 1 | 40[Note 2] | [4] | |
| — | Vacated | January 2, 1962 | — | — | — | — | Title vacated when Von Krupp was injured. | |
| 8 | Larry Hennig and Duke Hoffman | January 15, 1962 | Live event | St. Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 29 | Defeated Ivan and Nikita Kalmikoff in a tournament final. | [5] |
| 9 | Bob Geigel (3) and Stan Kowalski (2) | February 13, 1962 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 47[Note 2] | ||
| 10 | The Neilsons (Art Neilson and Stan Neilson) |
April 10, 1962 | N/A | Cincinnati, Ohio | 1 | 250[Note 1] | This was a "phantom" title change, as no match actually took place. | |
| 11 | Doug Gilbert and Dick Steinborn | December 16, 1962 | Live event | St. Paul, Minnesota | 1 | 16 | ||
| 12 | The Kalmikoffs (Ivan and Karol) |
January 1, 1963 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 231 | ||
| 13 | The Crusher and Dick the Bruiser | August 20, 1963 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 173 | [6] | |
| 14 | Moose Evans and Verne Gagne | February 9, 1964 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 14 | [7] | |
| 15 | The Crusher and Dick the Bruiser | February 23, 1964 | Live event | St. Paul, Minnesota | 2 | 342 | [8] | |
| 16 | Larry Hennig (2) and Harley Race | January 30, 1965 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 175 | ||
| 17 | The Crusher (3) and Verne Gagne (2) | July 24, 1965 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 14 | ||
| 18 | Larry Hennig (3) and Harley Race | August 7, 1965 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 2 | 294 | ||
| 19 | The Crusher (4) and Dick the Bruiser (3) | May 28, 1966 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 3 | 223 | [9] | |
| 20 | Larry Hennig (4) / Chris Markoff and Harley Race | January 6, 1967 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 3 | 301 | On November 1, 1967, Markoff replaced Hennig, who had his leg broken by Verne Gagne in Winnipeg, Manitoba. | |
| 21 | Pat O'Connor and Wilbur Snyder (2) | November 3, 1967 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 29 | ||
| 22 | Mitsu Arakawa and Dr. Moto | December 2, 1967 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 392 | ||
| 23 | The Crusher (5) and Dick the Bruiser (4) | December 28, 1968 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 4 | 245 | ||
| 24 | The Vachons (Butcher and Mad Dog) |
August 30, 1969 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 623 | ||
| † | The Von Steigers (Karl Von Steiger and Kurt Von Steiger) |
February 23, 1971 | Live event | Portland, Oregon | 1† | 23 | ||
| † | The Vachons (Butcher and Mad Dog) |
March 18, 1971 | Live event | Salem, Oregon | 1(2) | 58 | Defeated The Von Steigers by D.Q. | |
| 25 | Red Bastien and Hercules Cortez / The Crusher (6) | May 15, 1971 | Live event | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 1 | 250 | In August 1971, Bastien chose The Crusher as his new partner after Cortez was killed in a car accident on July 23. | |
| 26 | Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens | January 20, 1972 | Live event | Denver, Colorado | 1 | 345 | [10] | |
| 27 | Verne Gagne (3) and Billy Robinson | December 30, 1972 | Live event | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1 | 7 | ||
| 28 | Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens | January 6, 1973 | Live event | St. Paul, Minnesota | 2 | 561 | ||
| 29 | The Crusher (7) and Billy Robinson (2) | July 21, 1974 | Live event | Green Bay, Wisconsin | 1 | 95 | ||
| 30 | Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens | October 24, 1974 | Live event | Winnipeg, Manitoba | 3 | 296 | ||
| 31 | The Crusher (8) and Dick the Bruiser (5) | August 16, 1975 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 5 | 342 | ||
| 32 | Bobby Duncum and Blackjack Lanza | July 23, 1976 | Live event | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 349 | ||
| 33 | The High Flyers (Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne) |
July 7, 1977 | Live event | Winnipeg, Manitoba | 1 | 443 | ||
| 34 | Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens (4) | September 23, 1978 | N/A | N/A | 1 | 256 | Awarded the titles when Brunzell was injured in a charity softball game. | |