SmackDown Tag Team Championships

(individual)

Luke Harper, Erick Rowan (3 reigns)

The SmackDown Tag Team Championships (previously the World Tag Team Titles) were introduced on the first episode of Raw, and were won by the Brothers of Destruction(Undertaker and Kane) who defeated D-Generation X(HBK and HHH) to become the first champions. They are the current tag team championships on SmackDown.

## History

The first champions were crowned on the first episode of Raw when the Brothers of Destruction defeated D-Generation X. Undertaker and Kane wouldn't hold the belts for long, though, as they were defeated by Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in an Extreme Rules match just under one month later. The belts quickly changed hands again, as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns worked together to defeat Harper and Rowan on the May 16th episode of Raw. Rollins and Reigns would end the streak of short title reigns, holding the belts for over 100 days. The team was unstoppable, and their reign only came to an end when the Shield reformed, as the group agreed to defend the belts under freebird rule, though technically Rollins and Reigns remained champions.

Although The Shield agreed to defend under freebird rule, Ambrose and Reigns were the ones who defended the belts. They did so successfully against Hideo Itami and Finn Balor, but their reign came to an end when they were defeated by The Outsiders on the Raw Season 1 Finale. The Outsiders hosted an open challenge on Raw, which quickly went sour when they were beaten for the belts by Itami and Balor. This defeat was catastrophic for Nash and Hall, who in a fit of rage, attacked several officials, getting themselves fired. Itami and Balor would paticipate in the Team Kane vs Team Undertaker match at Survivor Series, but lost. They would defend their titles against The New Day, who defeated the Wyatt Family, at Armageddon and were successful.

On the January 16th edition of Raw, they would defend their titles against the Wyatt Family in the main event, before being targeted by the debuting Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Gallows and Anderson were defeated by Hideo and Finn at Elimination Chamber in a non-title match. The Raw right after, they would lose to the debuting Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, #DIY. The tag titles were scheduled to be on the line at Fastlane, but the Wyatt Family attacked Gargano and Ciampa. In the end, an elimination triple threat match was made for WrestleMania. In that match, the Wyatts dominated en route to their second title reign.

At the Start of Season Three, the belts were changed to the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, compelte with a new design. All previous reigns carried over under a different lineage, with the Wyatt Family recognized as the first champions. The Wyatts first defense as champions came at Backlash, as they defeated the team of Enzo Amore and Big Cass. Next up was The Club, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, who destroyed Enzo and Cass and then took out the impromptu team of Roman Reigns and Cesaro. At Money in the Bank, the champions retained, however in a Winner Take All match at Battleground, The Club helped AJ Styles retain his WWE Championship whilst also becoming the new champions. Sami Zayn was granted the opportunity to fight for the titles if he could find a partner, so he chose old friend and former rival Kevin Owens, and the pair took down The Usos to become number one contenders. At Summerslam, they brought a swift end to The Club's reign as champions, before defeating them again in a rematch at No Mercy.

Sami and Kevin started their reign by defeating Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows again in their rematch at No Mercy , before toppling the titantic alliance of Big Cass and Big Show at Halloween Havoc . However, at Armageddon , The Usos managed to capture the championships from Zayn and Owens, beginning their first reign. The Samoan brothers successfully defended their titles against the Young Bucks at Elimination Chamber , before the former champions demanded their rematch. The Usos faced Zayn and Owens again at WrestleMania , this time in a ladder match, which Sami and Kevin won to regain the championships.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn would go on to have an excellent reign, also picking up the name The KO & Sami Show during it. They defeated The Usos again at Backlash , the Hardy Boyz at Judgment Day and Rusev Day at Battleground . But they couldn't get past Harper and Rowan, The Bludgeon Brothers, at Summerslam , losing their titles and splitting up soon after. Recent call-ups SAnitY would get their chance at Clash of Champions , but were defeated by Harper and Rowan, who retained again against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at Halloween Havoc . However, their former leader Bray Wyatt would return, now under the leadership of Matt Hardy as The Woken Warriors. Wyatt and Hardy proved a good team, and defeated Harper and Rowan to become tag team champions at Survivor Series .

The first challengers for these unique champions would be quite the surprise, as the team of Heath Slater and Rhyno pulled off a massive upset over Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to become number one contenders. Despite a good effort from Rhyno, the challengers would come up short at Starrcade. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt had not escaped the shadow of Bray's former legion yet, as Harper and Rowan were back, absolutely dismantling Bray on his own in a vicious attack. Hardy then challenged the former champions to an Extreme Rules match, a decision which Bray seemed quite unhappy about but his trust in Matt didn't waver. The match at Fastlane proved to be a good way for Wyatt to work through his previous demons in violent manner, eventually pinning Harper and moving forward with a clearer mind. But for as well as Hardy and Wyatt had been as a team, their downfall loomed in the form of the much beloved Rusev Day. Rusev and Aiden English got the job done at WrestleMania III, winning the titles in the second match on the card.

For as well liked as the title change was, Rusev Day's time with the gold was unfortunately quite short. They would fall to the brand new team of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, who referred to themselves as "The Dream Team", at Judgment Day. After that match, Rusev would turn on his partner, driving English out of Universe Mode and beginning his crusade against tag team wrestling. Ziggler and McIntyre began to prove themselves worthy of their audacious moniker, picking up win after win on SmackDown while their next challengers, The War Raiders, did the same. Many believed this would be the time for another title change, but at The Bash, a great performance by Ziggler allowed the champs to retain. Also on that night, The Balor Club defeated The New Day in six man tag team action, making Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson the number one contenders. At Summerslam, it was McIntyre's turn to step up, as the former WWE Champion was able to overpower big man Gallows to retain the titles. After yet another title retention for Ziggler and McIntyre, this time against the Bludgeon Brothers, they were set upon by SAnitY. At Halloween Havoc, the challengers took advantage of a banged up Ziggler as Killian Dain pinned Dolph to win the titles.

Eric Young and Killian Dain would go forward as a duo after Alexander Wolfe left for NXT, and picked up another title retention on the December 17th edition of SmackDown, dismantling Chad Gable and Jason Jordan of American Alpha. The Ulster Plantation from Dain would put Jordan on the shelf, and forced Gable to go back to singles action.