NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version) explained

Championshipname:NWA World Tag Team Championship
(Amarillo version)
Promotion:NWA Western States Sports
Created:1955
Mostreigns:Team: Mike DiBiase/Danny Plechas, Dory Funk Sr./Bob Geigel, Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk
Individual: Art Nelson
Firstchamp:Reggie Lisowski and Art Neilson
Titleretired:March 1969

The Amarillo version (or West Texas version) of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was the main tag team professional wrestling championship for the Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Promoters Doc Sarpolis and Dory Funk introduced the championship in 1955 and continued to use it as their main tag team championship until 1969. The NWA Board of Directors dictated that there would be only one NWA World Heavyweight Champion but allowed any NWA member, also known as a NWA territory, to create its own local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.[1] In 1957 no less than 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were promoted across the United States. This even included another version in East Texas, which was used mainly in Houston and Fort Worth at the time.

To start the Amarillo lineage of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Sarpolis and Funk invited Reggie Lisowski and Art Nelson, the holders of the Chicago version of the championship, to come to Amarillo and defend the championship. By November 1955 Lisowski stopped travelling to Amarillo so Nelson was given Rip Rogers as a partner, creating a separate lineage from the Chicago version as they continued to recognize Lisowski and Nelson as champions. The world tag team championship was actively promoted in and around Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, from 1955 until March 1969. At that point the promotion abandoned the championship, opting to create the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship as the main tag team championship of the territory.[2] Since the Amarillo version, like all other NWA World Tag Team Championships, were professional wrestling championships, it meant that the championship was not determined by competitive combat, but instead based on a predetermined match result.[3]

The teams of Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr., and Mike DiBiase and Danny Plechas, share the record for most reigns as a team, a total of three each. Art Nelson, one-half of the first championship team, held the title a total of eight times with various partners, the most of any individual. The Von Brauners' (Kurt Von Brauner and Karl Von Brauner) first reign lasted 140 days, the longest of any individual reign. The Von Brauners also hold the record for combined reigns as a team with a 166 days total for their two reigns. Individually, Nelson's eight reigns add up to at least 310 days, eclipsing any other wrestler. Due to incomplete records in regard to a number of championship changes, it is impossible to clearly identify the shortest reign; Great Bolo and Tokyo Joe's seven day reign in 1958 is the shortest confirmed reign.

Team reigns by combined length

Key

data-sort-type="number" scope="col" RankTeamdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" No. of reignsdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" Combined days
scope=row1 (and) 2 166
scope=row2 and 2 145
scope=row3 and 3
scope=row4 and 2
scope=row5 and 1 105
scope=row6 and 2 103
scope=row7 and 1
scope=row8 and 1 84
scope=row9 and 1 76
scope=row10 and 1 73
scope=rown rowspan=211 and 1 50
and Cyclone Anaya 1 50
scope=row13Great Bolo and 1
scope=row14Dr. Blood and The Medic 1
scope=row15 and 1 35
scope=row rowspan=216 and 1 28
and 1
scope=row18 and 1 27
scope=row19Great Bolo and Tokyo Joe 1
scope=row20 and 1 22
scope=row rowspan=221 and Great Bolo 1 21
(Inferno #1 and Inferno #2) 1 21
scope=row23 and Mighty Zorro 1 13
scope=row24 and Luis Hernandez 1 9
scope=row25 and 3
scope=row26Great Bolo and Tokyo Joe 1 7
scope=row rowspan=727 and 1
and 1
and 1
and 1
and 1
(and) 1
Mighty Ortega and 1
scope=row rowspan=834 and 2
and 1
and 1
and 1
and 1
and 1
1
and 1

Individual reigns by combined length

Key

data-sort-type="number" scope="col" RankWrestlerdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" No. of reignsdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" Combined days
scope=row18
scope=row24 239
scope=row34
scope=row44
scope=row55
scope=row64
scope=row rowspan=272 166
2 166
scope=row93 122
scope=row102
scope=row111 105
scope=row122 103
scope=row13Great Bolo 4
scope=row rowspan=2141
1
scope=row161 73
scope=row176
scope=row rowspan=2181 50
Cyclone Anaya 1 50
scope=row rowspan=2201
Dr. Blood 1
scope=row222
scope=row rowspan=2232
2
scope=row25Tokyo Joe 2
scope=row rowspan=2261 28
2
scope=row281 27
scope=row rowspan=229Inferno #1 1 21
Inferno #2 1 21
scope=row rowspan=2311 13
Mighty Zorro 1 13
scope=row rowspan=2333
3
scope=row rowspan=6351
1
1
1
1
Mighty Ortega 1
scope=row rowspan=11411
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
1

Tournaments

1958

Concurrent championships

Sources for 13 simultaneous NWA World Tag Team Championships

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hornbaker, Tim . National Wrestling Alliance, The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling . ECW Press . 2007 . 1-55022-741-6. The Origins of a Wrestling Monopoly.
  2. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Amarillo) Texas: NWA Western States Tag Team Title [Sarpolis and Funk].
  3. Book: Mazer. Sharon. Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle. February 1, 1998. University Press of Mississippi. 1-57806-021-4. 18–19. June 19, 2016.
  4. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Los Angeles) California: NWA World Tag Team Title [Nichols, Doyle & Eaton].
  5. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Los Angeles – 1950s| work=Wrestling-Titles | accessdate=February 21, 2017].
  6. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (San Francisco) California: NWA World Tag Team Title[Joe Malcewicz].
  7. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [San Francisco 1950s] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  8. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Kansas and Western Missouri) West Texas: NWA World Tag Team Title [Karras & Geigel].
  9. Web site: NWA World Tag Team Title [Central States] ]. wrestling-titles.com . March 24, 2015.
  10. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4. (Chicago) Illinois: NWA World Tag Team Title [Kohler].
  11. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Illinois & Wisconsin] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  12. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . Ohio and Upstate New York: NWA World Tag Team Title [George & Bruins].
  13. Web site: NWA World Tag Team Title [Ohio / Northern New York] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  14. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . Georgia: NWA World Tag Team Title [Gunkel & Barnett].
  15. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Georgia] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  16. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . Iowa / Nebraska: NWA World Tag Team Title [George & Clayton].
  17. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Indianapolis] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  18. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Indianapolis) Indiana: NWA World Tag Team Title [Kohler, Patton & Estes].
  19. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Indianapolis] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  20. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . Idaho / Utah: NWA World Tag Team Title [Reynolds].
  21. Web site: World Tag Team Title [Northwest Tri-State] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  22. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Amarillo) Texas: NWA World Tag Team Title [Sarpolis and Funk].
  23. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Titles [W. Texas] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  24. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Minneapolis) Minnesota: NWA World Tag Team Title [Karbo & Gagne].
  25. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Minneapolis] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  26. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . Texas: NWA World Tag Team Title [Siegel, Boesch and McLemore].
  27. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [E. Texas] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.
  28. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Pennsylvania . 2000 . Archeus Communications . 0-9698161-5-4 . (Memphis, Nashville) Tennessee: NWA World Tag Team Title [Gulas and Welsh] .
  29. Web site: National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Title [Mid-America] ]. Wrestling-Titles . February 21, 2017.

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