Although the Monday Night Wars centered around a ton of solo superstars like Steve Austin and Goldberg, many factions helped swing viewers. The nWo was arguably the biggest stable of the era and many members of the nWo ended up holding the illustrious WCW Tag Team Championships.
There was a different iteration of the titles that date back to a house show in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1975. Some of the greatest tag teams in WCW became household names holding the titles, including teams like The Outsiders, The Steiner Brothers, and Harlem Heat. This list will examine ten things fans should know about the WCW Tag Team Championships.
10 Harlem Heat Held The Titles More Times Than Anyone Else
Despite 88 different tag team units holding the WCW Tag Team Championships, no tag team held the belts more times than Harlem Heat. Booker T and Stevie Ray were an absolute force as a unit. They competed against every major tag team unit at WCW and have big wins over all of them.
They only competed for the titles from December 1994 to October of 1999 meaning they held the titles ten times in a little over five years. No one competed for the WCW Tag Team Championships at the level of the WWE Hall of Fame tag team, Harlem Heat.
9 They Were Originally Known As The "NWA World Tag Team Championships"
WCW was at one point a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). While a member of NWA, the company's wrestlers competed for the NWA World Tag Team Championships, which date back to 1975 with the company.
In 1993, WCW withdrew from the NWA and returned to the NWA World Tag Team Championships replacing them with their NWA World Tag Team Championships. Although all these titles are all "technically" different belts, WCW recognized champions that dated back to the 1975 establishment of the NWA World Tag Team Championships.
8 Hollywood/Hulk Hogan Never Held The WCW Tag Team Championship
Hulk Hogan's arrival to WCW in 1993 was a huge shift in wrestling. Although he wasn't the same level of a star that he was in the late 80s, he was still a huge draw. When he transition to Hollywood Hogan after the establishment of the nWo, he was the top guy at WCW for most of his run after.
Despite all his storylines, multiple tag team matches with the nWo, and everything he accomplished at WCW, Hogan never held the WCW Tag Team Championships. He held the WCW Heavyweight Championship six different times. Hogan never even once competed for the WCW Tag Team Championships at the company.
7 Booker T Is The Only Person To Hold Them Before And After The WWE Purchased WCW
Few stars at WCW benefited from the WWE's purchase of WCW at the level of Booker T. He flourished in the WWE and became a mainstay in the main card for a large part of his career.
From August 2001 to November 2001, the WCW tag titles existed in the WWE. Stevie Ray never signed with the company and Booker ended up holding the titles with Test in September of 2001. It made him the first, and only, person to hold the titles, while both being a member of the WWE and WCW roster.
6 The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene and Ole Anderson) Held The Titles For Almost 1,000 Days
The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene and Ole Anderson) were the first WCW Tag Team Champions of all time, when they defeated Paul Jones & Tiger Conway Jr. in 1975 they established the titles that icons like Ric Flair, Steve Austin, and Dusty Rhodes would eventually hold.
Gene and Ole Anderson would go on to win the titles seven different times before May 1981. Their reigns varied in length, but overall they ended up holding the titles for an estimated 992 days which is almost 475 days longer than the second longest reigning WCW Tag Team Champions, The Steiner Brothers.
5 It Was The Last Title Brian Pillman Ever Held
Although Brian Pillman made a huge impact at the WWE, he was only there for less than a year and a half. He never held a single wrestling title at WWE either.
He and Steve Austin (the Hollywood Blondes) were a great tag team at WCW. They held the titles for 169 days before losing them to The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Paul Roma), due to an injury Pillman suffered. This title run in 1993 was the last title run of his life that ended too soon.
4 The Dudley Boyz Are The Only Team Who Held The WCW, WWE, ECW, NWA, TNA, and IWGP Tag Team Championships
In terms of title reigns, few tag teams can compare to Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley. The pair started as a huge force in ECW holding the tag titles 8 times at the company. When they arrived to the WWE, they were instantly a show-stealing squad.
Their great matches and feuds with The Hardyz and Edge & Christian helped them eventually become WWE Hall of Famers. They would later hold the Impact World Tag Team Championships twice and competed for the IWGP Tag Team Championships winning them twice as well.
3 Only Title Mick Foley Held In WCW
Although he did, first, wrestle for the WWE, Mick Foley rose to prominence in wrestling when he started competing as Cactus Jack at WCW. At the company, he wasn't the main event attraction he would become in the Attitude Era, but he was entertaining.
Jack only held one title in WCW, the Tag Team title. With Kevin Sullivan, he had a 56-day reign with the belts before being defeated by Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) at Bash At The Beach 1994.
2 Sting and Lex Luger Were The First Tag Team To Feature Two Former WCW World Heavyweight Champions
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was first officially established in 1991. It was the company's ultimate prize and, somehow, not many former WCW tag team champions were also former world champions. The first time it ever happened was when Sting and Lex Luger won the titles on a 1996 episode of Nitro.
Lex Luger was the second person to ever hold the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting was the third. The two began teaming up in late 1995 and eventually earned the titles by defeating Harlem Heat. They would eventually lose the titles back to Booker T and Stevie Ray after over 150 days with the titles.
1 Booker T Held The Titles More Times Than Any Other Wrestler (11)
If there was one person who could be labeled "Mr. WCW Tag Team Champion" it would have to be Booker T. Not only is he the only person to hold them in WCW and WWE, he also held the belts more times than any single wrestler. By winning the titles in the WWE with Test, he earned his eleventh title reign. It was the most times any wrestler in history ever held the titles.