WWE United States Championship

The **WWE United States Championship** is a men's professional wrestling championship, promoted by the American promotion, WWE, defended on the RAW brand. The current champion is Austin Theory, who is in his first reign.

## United States Championship

#### History

##### In real-life

The lineage of the United States Championship traces back to 1975, where it originated as a regional championship called the **NWA United States Heavyweight Championship**, one of many other United States Championships sanctioned by the NWA's territories. The championship initially belonged to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, which would later turn into Jim Crockett Promotions, which would then itself turn into World Championship Wrestling. While the NWA would only recognize one World Heavyweight Champion, most territories had their own version of a United States Championship as their top championship. However, in 1981, it became the sole United States Championship after Big Time Wrestling, the only promotion outside the Mid-Atlantic territory to recognize its own United States Championship, folded.

The championship would remain the primary title of the Mid-Atlantic territory until Jim Crockett would gain control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1986, after which it would become a secondary championship, where it has stayed ever since. Jim Crockett Promotions would be bought in 1988 by Ted Turner, who would turn the promotion into World Championship Wrestling (WCW), taking the United States Championship with it, where it remained until the buy-out of WCW by the then-World Wrestling Federation in 2001. It would continue to be used in the Federation up until Survivor Series 2001, where it was unified into the Intercontinental Championship by Edge. The championship would remain retired until Stephanie McMahon revived the championship for the SmackDown brand in 2003 to act as the counter-part to RAW's Intercontinental Championship, with the first champion under the WWE banner being Eddie Guerrero. The United States Championship has remained apart of WWE ever since.

Although previous United States Championship reigns are not "canonical" in Universe Mode, they are still recognized up until the date in which the first champion of the Universe Mode lineage won the championship in real life.

##### In Universe Mode

The United States Championship, like almost all other championships, did not get proper introductions in Universe Mode like the WWE Championship did. The championship made its first appearance on the debut episode of RAW, "Road To The Rumble". In the episode, Damian Priest held the championship, making him the first champion of the Universe Mode lineage. However, he'd lose the championship to Austin Theory that same episode.

#### Championship design

The championship features three plates on a black strap; the front plate is an upside down heptagon with the top portion of it featuring the WWE logo surrounded by white stars on a gold background. Below the logo reads 'UNITED STATES' in red, and under that reads 'CHAMPION' in larger blue lettering. Further, below the "CHAMPION" is an eagle with its wings spread across the center plate with the red and white stripes of the United States flag underneath the wings. The default side plates are gold squares that feature a silver WWE logo on a silver globe. Like most other WWE championships, the United States Championship features customizable side plates.

#### Brand designation

Since the beginning of Universe Mode, a brand split has separated the roster into two separate rosters; RAW and SmackDown. The United States Championship has, so far, between entirely exclusive to the RAW brand. Below is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the United States Championship between the Raw and SmackDown brands.

#### Reigns

 **2** | Austin Theory | April 9, 2022