8 Things Fans Need To Know About The WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship

The introduction of the AEW World Trios Championship brought the identity of six-man tag team titles back to mainstream wrestling audiences. Various promotions have had six-man titles for decades, some may forget that WCW once had its own tag team title reserved for the top three-man unit at the company. The WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was first established in 1991, long before Nitro or the Monday Night Wars.

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The WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was short-lived but did have a bunch of holders who would eventually become Hall of Famers. With a very limited number of three-person tag teams and a roster that was constantly up and down due to the nature of wrestling in the early '90s, the belt struggled to find solid footing in WCW. Due to its quick departure, there are many things fans don't know about the former tag team title that once adorned the waists of WCW's top three-man unit.

8 The Title Was A Revived Version Of The NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship

WCW had a long-standing relationship with the NWA. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship is even considered WCW's first world title in the early years of its existence. In 1991, WCW split from the NWA and began using its own titles that were not affiliated with the organization.

The WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was an example of this, but they weren't a 100% original idea. The titles were basically a revived version of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. NWA's title is one of the more well-known six-men titles in the history of wrestling that featured holders such as Dusty Rhodes and The Road Warriors.

7 Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich Won The Titles Twice

Only 10 men ever earned the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Of those 10, only two men ever held the titles more than once. Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich were the inaugural holders of the belt, sharing it with the Junkyard Dog. The pair also ended up being 2/3 of the last team to ever hold the titles, sharing them with Terence Taylor before the titles were deactivated for good.

6 Lasted Less Than A Year

Unlike the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship which existed for over three decades, the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship lasted less than a year at the company. The titles were first introduced in February 1991 and were officially disbanded in December of the same year.

The biggest issue with the titles was the lack of three-man units at WCW. It was also a huge task to build three-man units that could believably defend the titles since so many stars were coming and going from WCW at the time.

5 It Was The Only WCW Title Junkyard Dog Ever Held

Junkyard Dog is a well-known wrestling legend. In his prime, he competed with every major superstar of his era including Hulk Hogan to Ric Flair. Despite his illustrious career, which includes an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame before Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, and The Road Warriors, Junkyard Dog only held one major wrestling title during his time competing at WCW and the WWE.

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In 1991, when he became 1/3 of the inaugural WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champions, Junkyard Dog also won the first and last major title of his very respected wrestling career.

4 The Title Was Made For Midcarders

Although the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was a title reserved for the top names competing among the wrestling companies affiliated with the NWA, the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was reserved for mid-carder wrestlers.

This is another reason why the title struggles to catch on with WCW audiences. The difficulty of finding three people to defend the titles along with the difficulty of trying to make them feel important with a bunch of mid-card wrestlers proved to be a task that led to a quick demise for the titles.

3 The Title Was The First Major Title Dustin Rhodes Ever Held

One of the 10 holders of the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship eventually became a big star during the WWE's Attitude Era. Dustin Rhodes, who would later be known as Goldust in the WWE, was 1/3 of the second to the last team to ever hold the championships.

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Although his run with the belt was nothing special, it does have a special place in his career since the title was the first major championship that he would win. Since then, Rhodes has gone on to win various major belts including the WCW United States Championship, the WWE Intercontinental Title, and the WWE tag team belts on three different occasions.

2 Only Two Six-Man Teams Competed For The Titles & Didn't Eventually Win Them

The WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was mostly a merry-go-round of the same six-man teams competing for the titles. Only two teams competed for the belts and were unable to eventually win them.

The first was Big Cat and State Patrol (Lt. James Earl Wright & Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker) who were unable to win during the inaugural title match at WCW WrestleWar 1991. The team of Greg Sawyer, Mike Thor, and Randy Tatum would also fail to win the titles in 1991.

1 The Titles Were Almost Revived

In 1992, WCW teased a possible revival of the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship after it had been defunct for over six months. On an episode of WCW Worldwide, Eric Bischoff (of all people) even said that the titles would be defended at Beach Blast 1992 in a huge match featuring Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, and Steve Austin against Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, and Nikita Koloff.

It didn't include the previous holders The York Foundation (Richard Morton, Thomas Rich, and Terrance Taylor), and it never ended up happening. The match between the six men mentioned did happen, but no title was on the line.