NWA World Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles version)


The Los Angeles version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was the main tag team professional wrestling championship of the North American Wrestling Alliance, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, which promoted shows in and around Los Angeles. The championship was the first of at least 17 championships to use that name between 1949 and 1992, as the NWA Board of Directors allowed each territory to create its own version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship if it so desired. In 1957 there were at least 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship recognized in the United States. Since it was a professional wrestling championship, it was not won through legitimate competitive matches, but instead determined by the decisions of the booker of a wrestling promotion.
The first version of the Los Angeles NWA World Tag Team Championship was created in 1949, less than a year after the NWA itself was founded. At the time, tag team wrestling was popular on the West Coast, leading to the local NWA promoters Hugh Nichols and Johnny Doyle creating the first-ever NWA World Tag Team Championship when they announced The Dusek Family as the first champions on July 14, 1949. The NWA Board of Directors dictated that all NWA territories recognize only one NWA World Heavyweight Champion, but allowed each territory to crown its own world tag team champion, making each championship a regional championship despite the name. The Los Angeles territory promoted its NWA World Tag Team Championship for eleven years, with Ben and Mike Sharpe being the last champions of the era. The Duseks were the only team to hold the championship twice in that period of time. The longest reign of the first era belonged to Guy Brunetti and Joe Tangero, who held the championship for at least 277 days. After the Los Angeles version was abandoned, the local promoters recognized the San Francisco version in subsequent years.
By the 1970s the San Francisco territory had been taken over by Mike and Gene Lebell's NWA Hollywood Wrestling. In June 1970 the Twin Devils were billed as the NWA World Tag Team Champions. Records are not clear on how the Twin Devils became champions; since no records of a tournament have been found, it is possible they were simply awarded the championship when the Lebells decided to reintroduce the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Los Brazos were the last holders of the championship as NWA Hollywood Wrestling closed in December 1982. From that point on, the NWA Mid-Atlantic version was the only active NWA Word Tag Team Championship left.

Title history

Key
No.The overall championship reign
ReignThe reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
EventThe event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
N/AThe specific information is not known
—Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
Indicates that there was a period where the lineage is undocumented due to the lack of written documentation in that time period.

Team reigns by combined length

Key
SymbolMeaning
¤The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used.

Individual reigns by combined length

Key
SymbolMeaning
¤The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest possible length is used.

Concurrent championships

;Sources for 13 simultaneous NWA World Tag Team Championships