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 (later renamed NXT United Kingdom Championship) was established that same day, 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. 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 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.