WWE Tag Team Championship

The WWE Tag Team Championship is the sole tag team championship of the WWE. It was established in 2002 on the SmackDown brand, as a counterpart to the Raw brand's World Tag Team Championship. In 2009, the two tag team championships were unifed, and were collectively referred to as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship while remaining independently active. This changed in 2010, when the World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned, leaving the WWE Tag Team Championship as the only tag team title in the company.

Origin
Following the initial WWE Brand Extension in 2002, the World Tag Team Championship was a part of the SmackDown brand. That summer, during a period of open free agency, the championship was reassigned to the Raw brand, leaving the SmackDown brand without a tag team title. As a result, then-SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon introduced the WWE Tag Team Championship on October 1, 2002 and commissioned it to be the tag team title for the SmackDown brand. On October 20, Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit defeated Rey Mysterio & Edge in a tournament final to become the inaugural WWE Tag Team Champions.

Brand Exchange
On October 17, 2007, SmackDown! and ECW announced a talent exchange agreement that enabled talent from either brand's roster to compete on both brands. As a result, the title became eligible to be contended and defended on both brands. Following this agreement, ECW's John Morrison & The Miz defeated SmackDown's then-champions Matt Hardy & MVP to win the title. In late 2008 through early 2009, then-WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) engaged in a rivalry with then-World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz that spanned across all three brands. Throughout this rivalry both teams defended their respective title against each other, with the defending team retaining the championship each time. This ultimately resulted in the announcement on the March 17 edition of ECW that at WrestleMania XXV, both teams would defend their titles against each other and the winning team would hold both titles. The Colons defeated Morrison & Miz, and thus unified the titles into what became known as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the umbrella term for what essentially remained two separately active championships that were now collectively defended.

Title Unification
As the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the champions could appear on and defend the titles on any WWE brand. On August 16, 2010, the World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned in favor of continuing the lineage of the WWE Tag Team Championship following the presentation of new championship belts to then-champions David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd of The Hart Dynasty. The champions can still compete on any brand.