When the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) formed in 1963, their first tag team championship was the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship, which was originally an NWA championship established in 1958 and used by the WWWF's predecessor, Capitol Wrestling Corporation. After then-WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino and his tag team partner Spiros Arion won the titles in 1967, the U.S. Tag Team Championship was abandoned and deactivated due to Sammartino being the world champion. Two years later, The Rising Suns (Toru Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa) arrived in the WWWF with the WWWF International Tag Team Championship, which they claimed to have won in a tournament in Tokyo in June of that year. This became the WWWF's tag team title until 1971 when The Rising Suns left the WWWF and took the titles with them.