WWE has seen some of the topmost superstars winning the United States Champion. Here is a look at the top 5 longest reigning WWE United States Champions
The WWE United States Champion has been a part of the company since its inception in 1975. The title was first won by Harley Race, and at that time, it was a part of NWA.
United States Championship then went on at Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling before landing in WWE in 2001. Eddie Guerrero was the first champion in WWE.
Some of the company’s biggest names have won this championship title, from Stone Cold Steve Austin to John Cena and Randy Orton. Let’s look at the top 5 longest reigning United States Champions.
The Miz won the United States Championship twice. However, in his first run, he won in 2009 and then held on to it for more than seven months. He won the title from Kofi Kingston after three unsuccessful attempts.
During that time, The Miz started a rivalry with Intercontinental Champion John Morrison, where he faced him at multiple PPV events. However, his run was ended by WWE legend Bret Hart as Miz tapped out to the Sharpshooter in Toronto, Canada. He, later on, went on to become WWE Champion which he defended again at WrestleMania XXVII.
Cesaro, also known as “Antonio Cesaro“, the Swiss Superman, won the United States Championship a few months after his debut in 2012.
The Swiss Superman successfully defended the title against Marella, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Zack Ryder, R-Truth, and even The Miz, whom he beat on multiple WWE PPVs. One of the highlights was delivering a Neutralizer to the Great Khali during the title reign.
His reign was ended by Kofi Kingston on April 15, 2013, episode of Raw. It was a 240 days reign. He went on to win the first-ever Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30.
Shelton Benjamin won his only WWE United States Championship at the 2008 Great American Bash PPV when he defeated Matt Hardy. Benjamin’s title reign includes the likes of R-Truth and the Hurricane. One of the primary opponents was former champion MVP.
MVP challenged Benjamin for the US title on March 17 2009, episode of SmackDown, who ended his title reign of 243 days. After that, he moved on to the ECW brand.
Montel Vontavious Porter was signed In WWE (in storyline) to the largest contract in SmackDown history. He first challenged Chris Benoit at WrestleMania 23 and Backlash but failed to defeat him.
MVP eventually won the title in a 2 out of 3 falls match at Judgement Day. After that, he defended the title successfully against some of the top contenders like Benoit and Ric Flair. Before starting a long feud with Matt Hardy.
Hardy and MVP would win and lose the tag team titles before MVP attacked Hardy to put him out of action. However, Hardy and MVP clashed for the US title at Backlash 2009, where he eventually beat MVP to win the tile and ended his title reign at 343 days. It was the third-longest US championship reign of all time.
Dean Ambrose, aka Jon Moxley, became a Grand Slam Champion winning all the titles but the first title he won was the United States Championship in 2013. He won the title from Kofi Kingston at Extreme Rules in 2013.
He had his title defenses against Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, and even former WWE Champion Big E. Shield turned face during a rivalry with Triple H as Ambrose surpassed MVP’s reigns as WWE United States title on April 28, 2014.
Ambrose would lose his title as he was forced to defend his title in a 20-man battle royal and, in the end, was eliminated by Sheamus to end his long reign as US Champion.
One of the notable mentions in this category of longest United Champions is Lex Lurger, who has the longest reign with 523 days. However, his reign was ended by Stan Hansen at Halloween Havoc in 1990.