List of WWE United States Champions facts for kids
The WWE United States Championship is a special award in professional wrestling that wrestlers compete for in WWE, a big wrestling company in America. It's currently featured on the SmackDown show.
This championship has a long history! It started way back on January 1, 1975. Back then, it was called the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. It was created by a company called Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, which was part of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The very first champion was a wrestler named Harley Race.
Later, in 1988, another company called Turner Broadcasting bought Mid-Atlantic and changed its name to World Championship Wrestling (WCW). So, the championship became the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.
In 2001, WWE (which was then called WWF) bought parts of WCW. This meant the WCW United States Championship became part of WWE! But then, in November 2001, it was combined with another championship, the WWF Intercontinental Championship, and the United States Championship was put on hold.
Good news for the title, though! In July 2003, it was brought back as the WWE United States Championship. It's the only championship in WWE that wasn't originally created by WWE itself. Today, after the 2023 WWE Draft, it's only for wrestlers on the SmackDown brand.
In professional wrestling, matches are like amazing shows with planned endings, not real fights. Wrestlers often use cool ring names instead of their real names.
Right now, Logan Paul is the WWE United States Champion. This is his first time holding the title! He won it by defeating Rey Mysterio on November 4, 2023, at an event called Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
Over the years, 102 different wrestlers have held this championship. Ric Flair holds the record for winning it the most times, with six reigns. Under the WWE name, John Cena has won it five times, which is the most for WWE.
The longest time anyone held the championship was Lex Luger, who kept it for 523 days! Under the WWE banner, Dean Ambrose held it for 351 days. The shortest time someone was champion was "Stunning" Steve Austin, for only about five minutes! Only two wrestlers, Lex Luger and Rick Rude, have held the championship for a full year or more without losing it.
Contents
Title history
Names
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) | January 1, 1975 – January 27, 1981 |
| NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Undisputed version) | January 27, 1981 – January 1991 |
| WCW United States Heavyweight Championship | January 1991 – March 26, 2001 |
| WCW United States Championship | June 24, 2001 – November 18, 2001 |
| WWE United States Championship | July 27, 2003 – present |
Reigns
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. |
Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| † | Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion |
| <1 | Reign lasted less than a day |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | |||||
| National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) / Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Harley Race | January 1, 1975 | House show | Tallahassee, FL | 1 | 183 | 183 | Defeated Johnny Weaver in a tournament final to become the first NWA United States Heavyweight Champion. | ||
| 40 | Lex Luger | May 22, 1989 | House show | Bluefield, WV | 3 | 523 | 523 | This was Lex Luger's longest reign, lasting 523 days. | ||
| 49 | Steve Austin | September 18, 1994 | Fall Brawl 1994: War Games | Roanoke, VA | 2 | <1 | <1 | Awarded the title due to Ricky Steamboat being injured. This was the shortest reign in the title's history. | ||
| World Wrestling Federation (WWF) | ||||||||||
| 96 | Edge | November 12, 2001 | Raw | Boston, MA | 1 | 6 | 6 | |||
| — | Unified | November 18, 2001 | Survivor Series | Greensboro, NC | — | — | — | Edge defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Test to combine the titles. The United States title was then put on hold. | ||
| World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE): SmackDown | ||||||||||
| 97 | Eddie Guerrero | July 27, 2003 | Vengeance | Denver, CO | 2 | 84 | 84 | The title was brought back as the WWE United States Championship. Guerrero defeated Chris Benoit in a tournament final to win the revived title. | ||
| 132 | Dean Ambrose | May 19, 2013 | Extreme Rules | St. Louis, MO | 1 | 351 | 351 | This was the longest reign under the WWE banner, lasting 351 days. | ||
| 178 | Rey Mysterio | August 11, 2023 | SmackDown | Calgary, AB, Canada | 3 | Expression error: Unexpected < operator. | Expression error: Unexpected < operator. | Rey Mysterio stepped in for Santos Escobar to win the title. | ||
| 179 | Logan Paul | November 4, 2023 | Crown Jewel | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 1 | Expression error: Unexpected < operator.+ | Expression error: Unexpected < operator.+ | Logan Paul is the current champion. | ||
Combined reigns
As of June 20, 2025.
Here are some of the wrestlers who have held the WWE United States Championship for the longest time:
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | Number of times won |
Total days as champion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lex Luger | 5 | 950 |
| 2 | Ric Flair | 5(6) | 773 |
| 3 | Greg Valentine | 2(3) | 512 |
| 4 | Blackjack Mulligan | 3(4) | 509 |
| 5 | Montel Vontavious Porter | 2 | 419 |
| 6 | John Cena | 5 | 403 |
| 7 | Rick Rude | 1 | 378 |
| 8 | Sheamus | 3 | 362 |
| 9 | Chris Benoit | 5 | 357 |
| 10 | Dean Ambrose | 1 | 351 |
| 11 | Austin Theory | 2 | 333 |
| 12 | Nikita Koloff | 1 | 328 |
| 13 | Bobby Lashley | 3 | 324 |
| 14 | The Miz | 2 | 321 |
| 15 | Rusev | 3 | 312 |
| 16 | Sgt. Slaughter | 2 | 305 |
| 17 | Magnum T. A. | 2 | 302 |
| 18 | Wahoo McDaniel | 5 | 296 |
| 19 | Barry Windham | 1 | 283 |
| 20 | Booker T | 4 | 271 |
| 36 | Logan Paul † | 1 | 594+ |
|}
See also
- Secondary championships in WWE
