| abstract | - In March 2001, all WCW assets were purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after WCW filed for bankruptcy. After the purchase, the WWF continued the use of the championship as a part of a storyline called The Invasion, which involved a rivalry between former WCW wrestlers and original WWF wrestlers before the purchase of WCW. The WCW World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship contested for in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Originally, WCW was a subsidiary for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a professional wrestling promotion which had numerous subsidiaries. The NWA operated many tag team championships before one prime tag team title was established in 1993. One of those titles was the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which was operated by the NWA subsidiary Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW), the predecessor of WCW. The championship was created for MACW by the NWA, which also oversaw the title's operation. In January 1991, WCW, which had succeeded MACW, began the process of withdrawing as a subsidiary of NWA to become an independent promotion. During this time, WCW created their own version of a tag team championship, while the NWA version was returned to the NWA; all title reigns before March 1980 were not officially recognized by WCW for unknown reasons. On July 12, 1992, the WCW World Tag Team Championship was unified with the NWA World Tag Team Championship, which was activated earlier that year by the NWA as its prime tag team championship; this title was a reactivated version of MACW's title. In September 1993, WCW's withdrawal from the NWA was made official, and the NWA World Tag Team Championship was returned to the NWA; the title was reactivated by the NWA in 1995.In March 2001, all WCW assets were purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after WCW filed for bankruptcy. After the purchase, the WWF continued the use of the championship as a part of a storyline called The Invasion, which involved a rivalry between former WCW wrestlers and original WWF wrestlers before the purchase of WCW. Title reigns were determined either by professional wrestling matches with different tag teams, a duo of wrestlers, involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines or were awarded the title due to scripted circumstances. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches for the championship. The inaugural champions, under the NWA, were The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene and Ole Anderson), who were announced to have won the titles after winning a tournament in January 1975. The first champions recognized by WCW were Ray Stevens and Greg Valentine, who won the MACW's tag team titles in March 1980. The champions during WCW's withdrawal from the NWA were Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed), and were the first wrestlers to hold WCW's tag team championship version. Before the promotion's purchase, the final champions recognized by WCW were Sean O' Haire and Chuck Palumbo; they were also the first champions under the titles operation in the WWF. On November 18, 2001, the championship was deactivated after its use in the Invasion storyline. The title was unified with the WWF Tag Team Championship, and the final champions recognized by the WWF, were the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von). The title was won in Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States. Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) held the most reigns as a tag team (10), and Booker T held the most individual reigns (11), which is the same amount of times the title was vacated. At 282 days, Doom's reign during WCW's NWA withdrawal was the longest in the championship's history. Overall, there were 143 title reigns.
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