WWE United States Championship The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand . Along with the Intercontinental Championship on the SmackDown brand , it is one of the two secondary titles of the promotion . It is currently held by Kevin Owens , who is in his first reign . The championship was established as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on January 1 , 1975 for the regional territory , Mid - Atlantic Championship Wrestling , later known as Jim Crockett Promotions and then World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) , which eventually seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) . Harley Race was the inaugural champion . This makes the United States Championship the only active championship in WWE that was not originated in the promotion , as well as WWE ' s second oldest active championship , behind the WWE Championship ( 1963 ) . After WCW was purchased by the then - World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) in 2001 , the then - WCW United States Championship was defended in the WWF until it was unified with the Intercontinental Championship at that year ' s Survivor Series . After the 2002 brand extension and the promotion renamed to WWE , the championship was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship in July 2003 as a secondary title of the SmackDown brand . As a result of the 2016 draft , it became exclusive to the Raw brand . Current champion . The current champion is Kevin Owens . He won the title on April 2 , 2017 at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando , Florida defeating Chris Jericho . History . In July 2003 , the title was activated by SmackDown General Manager , Stephanie McMahon , and was commissioned to be a secondary championship to the SmackDown brand ( WWE claims it to be a reactivation of the old NWA / WCW United States Heavyweight Championship , but for all intents and purposes , it is a separate championship with its own history ) . Eddie Guerrero became the first champion through a tournament in the finals at Vengeance 2003 vs Chris Benoit . This was done shortly after the WWE Intercontinental Championship was recommissioned by the Raw brand , making the title its equal counterpart . The title remained on SmackDown until April 13 , 2009 , when reigning champion Montel Vontavious Porter was drafted from SmackDown over to Raw during the 2009 WWE Draft , moving the title with him . On April 26 , 2011 , reigning champion Sheamus was drafted to SmackDown during the 2011 WWE Draft , briefly bringing the U . S . Title back to the show . Five days later , Raw ' s Kofi Kingston defeated Sheamus for the title at Extreme Rules , returning it to Raw . Since August 29 , 2011 , when all WWE programming became " Supershows " featuring the entire roster , the U . S . Title has been defended on both " Raw " and " SmackDown " . Reigns . The inaugural champion was Eddie Guerrero . There have been 29 different champions , with John Cena having the most official reigns at five . Since the title ' s inception in WWE , Dean Ambrose won the championship by defeating Kofi Kingston on May 19 , 2013 at Extreme Rules in St . Louis , Missouri , making him the longest reigning U . S . Champion under the WWE banner , breaking Montel Vontavious Porter ' s previous record of 343 days set in 2007 - 2008 During John Cena ' s third reign as the United States Champion , he introduced a custom " spinner " belt . On the March 10 , 2005 episode of " SmackDown " , the " spinner " version was " destroyed " , with the help of John " Bradshaw " Layfield , after Orlando Jordan defeated Cena the previous week for the title , reverting to WWE ' s standard U . S . Championship belt .