WWE United States Championship

The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship. The title was originally a National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling championship. Currently, it is the second highest ranked championship exclusive to the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.

History
Although the National Wrestling Alliance had already crowned a United States Champion in 1950 with Buddy Rogers, over the years the many promotions that conformed the National Wrestling Alliance began recognizing their own United States champions as well. The NWA United States Heavyweight Championship recognized by Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling came into existence as the top championship in the Mid-Atlantic region on January 1, 1975 with Harley Race being given the title. The championship then became the Undisputed NWA United States Championship in January 1981 when the last remaining NWA promotion to recognize its own United States champion closed down. However, in 1986, the title became a secondary championship in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling as its promoter, Jim Crockett, Jr., consolidated the NWA World Heavyweight Championship under his control. Then, in 1991, the title was renamed the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) United States Heavyweight Championship when the promotion became World Championship Wrestling.

In March 2001, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. purchased World Championship Wrestling. Following this, Vince McMahon orchestrated the "Invasion" storyline, in which both WCW and ECW were ultimately dismantled. During the "Invasion", only four WCW championship titles remained active, including the WCW United States Heavyweight title, which was referred to simply as the WCW United States Championship. On the conlusion of the "Invasion" at Survivor Series 2001, the WCW United States Championship and the WWF Intercontinental Championship were unified when the WCW United States Champion, Edge, defeated the WWF Intercontinental Champion, Test. As a result, the United States Championship became inactive and Edge became the new WWF Intercontinental Champion.

On July 2003, the title was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by SmackDown! general manager, Stephanie McMahon. This was done shortly after the RAW brand recommissioned the WWE Intercontinental Championship to be its secondary championship, thus the United States Championship became its equal counterpart for the SmackDown! brand.

After John Cena won the United States Championship he revealed a new custom "Spinner" version of the belt at Armageddon 2004. However, after Orlando Jordan defeated Cena for the title in March 2005, Cena's belt was dumped into a garbage can and blown up by John "Bradshaw" Layfield and The Cabinet. Jordan was then presented with the regular WWE United States Championship belt.

Trivia

 * The current NWA/WCW/WWE version of the title is not the first United States Championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history. A previous title existed in the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation, called the WWWF USA Championship. It was a short-lived title that was created in 1970 and abandoned by 1976. It has no connection or lineage to this title.
 * Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit are the only three wrestlers to win both the WCW and WWE versions of this title.
 * The U.S. Championship has been recognized by three different promotions (NWA, WCW, and currently WWE). When the reigns are broken down by promotion, Flair has the most reigns with the NWA version of the title with 5, Bret Hart has held the WCW version the most times with 4 reigns, and Benoit, Booker T (now known as King Booker) and John Cena are tied for the most reigns with the WWE version of the title with 3 each.
 * The U.S. Title has been held by 4 different father & son combinations---Blackjack Mulligan & Barry Windham, Johnny & Greg Valentine, Dusty & Dustin Rhodes, and most recently Ric & David Flair.

Current champion
The current champion is Chris Benoit, in his fifth reign (third in WWE). He won the title from Mr. Kennedy on the October 13, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. On April 2, 2007, Benoit became the longest reigning WWE era U.S. Champion, beating Orlando Jordan's record of 173 days.