NXT UK Tag Team Championship

The NXT UK Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on their NXT UK brand, a sister brand of NXT based in the United Kingdom. Established on 18 June 2018, the inaugural championship team was James Drake and Zack Gibson. The current champions are Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang), who are in their first reign.

NXT UK Tag Team Championship
The NXT UK Tag Team Championship belt with default side plates
Details
PromotionWWE
BrandNXT UK
Date established18 June 2018
Current champion(s)Gallus
(Mark Coffey and Wolfgang)
Date won4 October 2019
(aired 17 October 2019)

The WWE had originally announced plans for a United Kingdom-based brand in December 2016, however, it was not until mid-2018 when NXT UK was formally established as that brand. The NXT UK Tag Team Championship was then introduced during the first night of the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament. Although it is one of four male tag team championships in the WWE, it is viewed as a step below the promotion's three main brand titles, the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship, WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, and NXT Tag Team Championship.

History

In a press conference at The O2 Arena on 15 December 2016, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced plans to establish a United Kingdom-based brand on which professional wrestlers from the country would compete. The WWE United Kingdom Championship was established that same day,[1] however, it was not until mid-2018 when NXT UK was formally established as the United Kingdom-based brand, and sister brand of the American-based NXT. On 18 June during the first night of the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament, the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, along with the NXT UK Women's Championship, was announced for the NXT UK brand.[2][3] A four-team single-elimination tournament took place on the 24 and 25 November tapings of NXT UK (aired 2 and 9 January 2019, respectively). The finals occurred at TakeOver: Blackpool on 12 January, where the team of James Drake and Zack Gibson defeated Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) to become the inaugural champions.[4]

Inaugural tournament
Semifinals
NXT UK
24 and 25 November 2018
(aired 2 and 9 January 2019) 		Final
TakeOver: Blackpool
12 January 2019
      
Moustache Mountain
(Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) 		Pin
Gallus
(Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) 		14:39
Moustache Mountain 23:45
James Drake and Zack Gibson Pin
James Drake and Zack Gibson Pin
Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews 9:19

Belt design

The championship belts were unveiled by WWE Chief Operating Officer and NXT head Triple H and NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint on the 14 October 2018 tapings of NXT UK in Plymouth. The center plate of the championship belts is modeled on the NXT UK logo, which itself takes inspiration from the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse (instead of the traditional unicorn) with a vertical NXT logo between them; the animals are gold while the logo is silver (the WWE logo is affixed at the center of the X). Above and below the logo are two halves of the globe which are colored blue. A banner above the upper globe reads "UK Tag Team" while a banner below the lower globe reads "Champions". A gold ornamented border with red jewels circles the center plate. Gold and black divider bars with red jewels at each end separate the center plate from the belt's two side plates. In what has become a prominent feature of WWE's championship belts, the side plates feature removable center sections that can be replaced with the current champion's logo; the default side plates feature the WWE logo on a blue globe. The plates are on a black leather strap.[5]

Reigns

As of 11 June 2020, there have been three reigns between three teams composed of six individual champions. James Drake and Zack Gibson were the inaugural champions . Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews have the shortest reign at 34 days (47 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay). The oldest champion is Wolfgang, winning the title at 32 years old, while the youngest is Drake, winning it at 25.

The current champions are Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang). They defeated previous champions Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews during the NXT UK taping in Brentwood, England on 4 October 2019 (aired 17 October).

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Days recog. Number of days held recognized by the promotion
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign DaysDays recog.
1 James Drake and Zack Gibson 12 January 2019 TakeOver: Blackpool Blackpool, England 1 231230 Defeated Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) in the finals of a four-team tournament to become the inaugural champions. [4]
2 Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews 31 August 2019 TakeOver: Cardiff Cardiff, Wales 1 3447 This was a triple threat match also involving Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang).
WWE recognizes this reign as ending on 17 October 2019, when the following episode aired on tape delay.		 [6]
3 Gallus
(Mark Coffey and Wolfgang)		 4 October 2019 NXT UK Brentwood, England 1 251+238+ WWE recognizes this reign as beginning on 17 October 2019, when the episode aired on tape delay. [7]

See also

Notes
  1. WWE officially recognizes it as 47 days, but still the shortest.

References
  1. Keller, Wade (December 15, 2016). "WWE announces new UK-based brand, holding tournament to crown UK Champion, Nigel McGuinness on announce team". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  2. Pollock, John (June 18, 2018). "WWE announces NXT UK brand with two additional championships to be introduced". POSTWrestling. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  3. https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/wwe-announces-new-u-k-brand-championship-titles-and-nxt-u-k-television-show/
  4. Powell, Jason. "1/12 Powell's NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool live review – Rhea Ripley vs. Toni Storm for the NXT UK Women's Championship, Pete Dunne vs. Joe Coffey for the WWE UK Championship, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate vs. Zack Gibson and James Drake to become the first NXT UK Tag Champions". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  5. "Major news from Sunday night's NXT UK tapings (CAUTION: SPOILERS)". WWE. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  6. Powell, Jason. "8/31 Powell's NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff live review – Walter vs. Tyler Bate for the WWE UK Championship, Toni Storm vs. Kay Lee Ray for the NXT UK Women's Championship, Zack Gibson and James Drake vs. Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster vs. Mark Coffey and Wolfgang for the NXT UK Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  7. Owen, Dei. "NXT UK TV TAPING SPOILERS: NIGHT ONE IN BRENTWOOD". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
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