wwe

Active Years

1953 - Present.

Owner

Vince McMahon

Television Shows

WWE Raw, WWE NXT, WWE Smackdown

Current Champions

WWE Universal Champion: Roman ReignsIntercontinental Champion: RicochetUnited States Champion: Austin TheoryWWE Raw Tag Team Champions: Randy Orton & RiddleWWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions: Jimmy Uso & Jey UsoWWE Raw Women's Champion: Bianca BelairWWE Smackdown Women's Champion: Ronda RouseyWWE Women's Tag Team Champions: Naomi & Sasha BanksWWE NXT Champion: Bron BreakkerWWE NXT Women's Champion: Mandy RoseWWE NXT North American Champion: Cameron GrimesWWE NXT Tag Team Champions: Pretty DeadlyWWE NXT Women's Tag Team Champions: Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne

Streaming

Peacock

Since its revival in 2003, the United States Championship has been one of two secondary titles used by WWE's main roster. It has a long lineage of prestige and history since its creation in 1975 and has been held by 29 WWE Hall Of Famers. However, the U.S. Title hasn't always been held with such high regard on WWE programming, enduring a rollercoaster of peaks and valleys where it's featured at times, and then forgotten.

RELATED: The 10 First WWE United States Champions, Ranked From Worst To Best

On April 18, 2022, Theory became the 101st person to be crowned United States Champion with his victory over Finn Balor. The hope is that, with being one of the currently featured members of Raw and being in the middle of a push, the title will come into a more consistent focus. As we see by the last 10 men to hold the title, that hasn't always been the case.

10 Finn Balor

Finn Balor's reign as U.S. Champion will not only go down as the worst of the last ten but quite possibly one of the worst of all time. Balor was the definition of a "transitional champion, winning the title and then losing it in his first defense of it. His reign lasted 49 days, and while champion, he lost almost every encounter he had with his successor, Theory, before finally losing the title to him on Raw recently.

RELATED: The Worst United States Champion Every Year For The Past 10 Years

He didn't make the WrestleMania card as champ and lost the Andre The Giant Memorial battle royal on the WrestleMania edition of SmackDown. Truly a forgettable reign for a world-class competitor.

9 Ricochet

The championship reign of Ricochet will not be remembered for much other than whom he defeated for the title, Samoa Joe, and who he lost it to, AJ Styles. There isn't much to speak about regarding his reign as it lasted all but three weeks. What puts Ricochet ahead of Balor was the fact that he had one successful defense of his title on TV before dropping it to Styles.

8 Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio is likely a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer when he hangs up the mask for good, and he will be recognized and remembered for many great achievements, one of which will be for being a multiple-time United States Champion. His second reign however wasn't anything that will etch him in the annals of great U.S. Champions.

Mysterio would end up being the fourth champion out of the previous five in 2019 with a reign that lasted one month or less, smack in the middle of a period where WWE seemingly was trying anything and anyone to make the championship mean more.

7 Apollo Crews

In 2020, Apollo Crews had a decent run as United States Champion. Unfortunately, like his reign as Intercontinental Champion, it took place in the heart of the pandemic era for WWE. His run with the title lasted just over three months and included wins over Andrade, Kevin Owens, and MVP, but its entirety occurred in front of zero live fans while at the Performance Center and ThunderDome.

One noteworthy point for Crews' run was that he "unified" the two United States Championships that were circulating during the time, ushering in the current design for the title that we see today.

6 Riddle

Riddle became U.S. Champion in the spring of 2021 by dethroning Bobby Lashley and ending a strong reign in the process. As champion, he also was able to do something that hadn't been done in a few years, and that was defending the title at WrestleMania. While he only held the title for 45 days before losing it to Sheamus, Riddle was successful in using his run as champion to propel him to a more prominent role on the roster as it was shortly after his defeat that the birth of RK-Bro would occur.

5 Sheamus

For the Celtic Warrior, his third reign as US Champion wasn't an overly memorable one. However, Sheamus did win the championship at WrestleMania 37 in front of the first live audience since the outbreak of the pandemic that eliminated live crowds at wrestling events. In a rare defense of the title at WrestleMania, Sheamus dethroned Riddle and would go on to hold the championship for 132 days. The downer in this reign though is that he would only go on to defend the title one time before eventually losing it to Damian Priest.

4 Andrade

When Andrade defeated Rey Mysterio to become U.S. Champion in the winter of 2019, it looked as if WWE was attempting to push him and utilize him more than he had been in the mid-card. He would hold the championship for five months, but looking back, the reign looks the part of WWE forgetting he was the titleholder more than Andrade being a dominant champion.

RELATED: 10 Best WWE United States Champions To Never Hold The World Title

For the duration of his reign, he was embroiled in feuds with Humberto Carrillo and Rey Mysterio, which included a tremendous Ladder Match victory on Raw, before losing the title to Apollo Crews.

3 AJ Styles

In 2019, for the third time in his career, AJ Styles was the United States Champion. This seemingly was WWE's attempt at revitalizing the prestige around the championship, putting it around the waist of arguably its best in-ring performer. For 134 days, AJ made the title feel important again and no longer an afterthought. While AJ held the championship, some of the better wrestlers who weren't previously afforded opportunities for titles were showcased on a big stage such as Ricochet, Humberto Carrillo, and Cedric Alexander. This was a situation where the man made the title.

2 Bobby Lashley

"The Almighty" Bobby Lashley winning the United States Championship in the summer of 2020 was the best thing for the championship and Lashley's career. The 175-day reign, that began with a defeat of Apollo Crews, would see Lashley be made to look like a dominant force as he was heavily protected by not being pinned or submitted for just about four months, before losing the championship in a triple threat match to Riddle where he wasn't pinned.

RELATED: Every Bobby Lashley Title Reign In WWE, Ranked

The reign did the things you'd hope for in a mid-card title reign as it not only made Lashley into a bigger star on his way to the WWE Championship, but it helped elevate the title once again into a meaningful prize to be sought after.

1 Damian Priest

The reign of The Archer Of Infamy was the best of any United States Champion in recent memory. Damian Priest's run with the championship is a perfect example of how a title reign with a secondary championship should be booked. Priest was a fresh face in the title scene at the time of SummerSlam 2021, and by way of defeating an established name like Sheamus at a "big 4" event, it was clear WWE was invested in him. More importantly, it seemed as if there was a plan in place, something that seemed to be lacking for the vast majority of the title holders in recent years.

Priest would go on to have the longest US title reign in the last seven years, holding it for 191 days and defending it 12 times against names such as Jeff Hardy, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, and AJ Styles. And while it seemed like WWE lost their way a bit with his character towards the end of the reign before losing to Finn Balor, both Priest and the United States Championship have come out of the reign in a better position: Priest now finds himself aligned with Edge in a newly formed heel stable with great possibilities. Under Damian, the championship mattered more and had more significance on WWE programming than it had in nearly a decade.