The WCW United States Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship contested for in the United States-based National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotions. The title was only contestable by male tag teams and in tag team matches. In 1986, NWA President and JCP owner Jim Crockett, Jr. introduced the championship, under the name "NWA United States Tag Team Championship", by announcing a tournament for the newly created title, which was won by [Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff on September 28, 1986. Since its establishment, JCP was a member of the NWA, and as a result, most title defenses occurred under JCP-promoted events.
In 1988, Crockett sold JCP to Ted Turner, who established WCW as its successor; however, the title continued to be defended under the NWA name until January 1991, when WCW withdrew as a member of the NWA. The final champions under the NWA name were The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott). Following WCW's withdrawal, the title was renamed the "WCW United States Tag Team Championship". On July 31, 1992, WCW stripped the final champions, The Barbarian and Dick Slater, of their titles and retired the championship in order to put the focus on the WCW World Tag Team Titles.
Championship Lineage[]
- Krusher Khruschev and Ivan Koloff - September 28, 1986 - Live Event
- Ron Garvin and Barry Windham - December 13, 1986 - NWA Pro Wrestling
- Dick Murdoch and Ivan Koloff - March 14, 1987 - NWA: World Championship Wrestling
Vacated - April 1987
- Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane (The Midnight Express) - May 16, 1987 - NWA: World Championship Wrestling
- Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers (The Fantastics) - May 14, 1988 - World Wide Wrestling
- Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane 2 - July 10, 1988 - The Great American Bash 1988
Vacated - September 10, 1988
- Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers 2 - December 7, 1988 - Clash of the Champions IV: Season's Beatings
- Kevin Sullivan and Steve Williams - December 26, 1988 - Starrcade 1988
- Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner - March 18, 1989 - World Wide Wrestling
Vacated - May 1989
- Brian Pillman and The Z-Man - February 24, 1990 - World Wide Wrestling
- Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane 3 - May 19, 1990 - WCW Capital Combat: Return of Robocop
- Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner (The Steiner Brothers) - August 24, 1990 - Live Event
Vacated - April 6, 1991
- Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes (The Fabulous Freebirds) - May 19, 1991 - SuperBrawl 1
- Todd Champion and Firebreaker Chip (The Patriots) - September 7, 1991 - World Championship Wrestling
- Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers (The Young Pistols) - December 15, 1991 - WCW Main Event
- Big Josh and Ron Simmons - February 16, 1992 - WCW Main Event
- Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine - February 29, 1992 - World Championship Wrestling
- Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes 2 - May 17, 1992 - WCW WrestleWar 1992
- The Barbarian and Dick Slater - July 12, 1992 - WCW Main Event
The Barbarian and Slater became the final champions under WCW when the company retired the titles on July 31, 1992 to place the sole focus of the tag team division on the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Titles, which were unified at the time.