NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version)

NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version)
The San Francisco version of the championship
Details
Promotion	NWA San Francisco (1950–1961) Big Time Wrestling (1961–1979)
Date established	April 4, 1950 (NWA: SF version) June 1961 (BTW version)
Date retired	1961 (NWA: SF version) April 1979 (BTW version)
Other name(s)
World Tag Team Championship
Statistics First champion(s) Ray Eckert and Hard Boiled Haggerty (NWA: SF Version) Guy and Joe Brunetti (BTW version) Longest reign Peter Maivia and Ray Stevens (At least 397 days) Shortest reign Ben and Mike Sharpe (1 day)

The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member NWA San Francisco promoted a professional wrestling tag team championship under the name NWA World Tag Team Championship from 1950 until 1961 in and around their local territory until it closed. When San Francisco based Big Time Wrestling became a member of the NWA in 1968 they began promoting their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship as part of their shows until the championship was abandoned in 1979. The NWA rules allowed each individual member to promote a championship under that name, which meant there were several NWA World Tag Team Championships promoted across North America at some point between 1950 and 1982, with two different versions being promoted in San Francisco, although not at the same time. At one point in 1957 no less than 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were recognized across the United States.^{[Championships]} At least 21 different regional branches of the NWA World Tag Team Championship have identified as being active at some point between 1950 and 1991. In 1992 the NWA Board of Directors sanctioned one main NWA World Tag Team Championship under their control. As it is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won via legitimate competition; it is instead won via a scripted ending to a match or on occasion awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline.

Ray Eckert and Hard Boiled Haggerty are recognized as the first holders of the NWA San Francisco version of the championship, said to have defeated the team of Ron Etchison and Larry Moquin, although no direct record of the match has been found; it was only mentioned on television. Due to gaps in documentation from the era not all championship changes have been record with specific dates, only the general period of time that they happened. Due to this it is impossible to say which team held the championship for the shortest period of time although it is unlikely to be shorter than the one-day reign of Mike and Ben Sharpe from January 9 to 10, 1958. The Sharpe Brothers' eighth reign lasted at least 131 days, the longest known reign of any champions. The Sharpe Brothers also hold the record for most reigns, a total of 18, 15 more than any other team. In 1957 the San Francisco version of the championship was one of thirteen NWA World Tag Team Championships being promoted in the United States throughout the NWA territories.^{[Championships]} The NWA: San Francisco version of the championship was abandoned in when promoter Joe Malcevicz closed his promotion in 1962.

In 1961 Roy Shire started a rival wrestling promotion in San Francisco called Big Time Wrestling, in direct competition with NWA: San Francisco. Shires' promotion created its own World Tag Team Championship in 1961, with Guy and Joe Brunetti as its first champions. Initially Shire was associated with the American Wrestling Alliance, but in 1968 he became a member of the NWA. At that point the Big Time Wrestling tag team championship was given the NWA suffix. Big Time Wrestling abandoned the tag team championship in 1979 and two years later the promotion closed. While it is possible that there were shorter reigns, the seven-day reign of the Great Mephisto and Kinji Shibuya in April 1973 is the shortest documented title reign. The Blonde Bombers's (Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson) reign that started in April 1965 was the longest reign on record, a total of 623 days.

Title history

Key

NWA San Francisco history

Big Time Wrestling history

Team reigns by combined length

Key

Individual reigns by combined length

Key

1977 Championship Tournament

See also

• National Wrestling Alliance
• NWA World Tag Team Championship