5 interesting things you should know about the WWE United States Championship

The WWE United States Championship is one of the most coveted prizes in the history of professional wrestling. The belt has been held by some of the greatest Superstars to ever step foot in the squared circle, and was once a prominently featured title belt in WCW. WWE Extreme Rules is set to take place on July 19, 2020, and WWE veteran MVP will take on Apollo Crews for his WWE United States Championship.

MVP recently introduced a brand new US title belt, and it will replace the one Apollo is holding currently if MVP ends up defeating him for the belt. With Extreme Rules mere days away from us, let's discuss a few interesting things about one of the most prized possessions in all of WWE.

#5 The United States title had been in need of an upgrade for a long time

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The United States title's current design (the title that Apollo holds) has been a mainstay in WWE for the past 17 years, ever since it was re-commissioned in 2003 on the SmackDown brand. A tournament was held for the title, with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit going at it at Vengeance 2003 to determine the winner. Guerrero emerged victorious when all was said and done, to bag the title.

Ever since then, the belt has changed hands dozens of times, but never got a redesign. John Cena ditched the belt for a custom-made spinner belt in 2004, but the belt was trashed and destroyed by JBL and his lackeys when Orlando Jordan defeated Cena for the title on the road to WrestleMania.

The title did get a bit of an upgrade in regards to its design in 2014. This makes the US title's design the oldest one currently used in WWE. But it could all change at Extreme Rules 2020.

#4 The United States title changed hands a whopping 9 times last year

Rey Mysterio vs Samoa Joe at WrestleMania 35

The year 2019 was certainly an eventful one when it came to the WWE United States title. The belt changed hands a total of nine times last year. It began when Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev at the pre-show of the 2019 Royal Rumble PPV to win the belt.

He didn't hold the belt for long though, and was defeated by R-Truth for the same two days later. A few weeks later on WWE SmackDown, Samoa Joe defeated R-Truth, Andrade, and Rey Mysterio in a Fatal 4-Way match to win the title.

Mysterio won the title at Money In The Bank 2019, but relinquished it back to Joe soon after, due to suffering an injury in the match, and because Joe's shoulder was up when the official had counted the pin. Ricochet won the belt at Stomping Grounds, and later lost it to AJ Styles at Extreme Rules.

Rey Mysterio won the belt by defeating Styles on an episode of RAW, and then lost it to Andrade at a WWE live event on December 26, 2019.

#3 John Cena's US title open challenge featured a who's who of WWE greats

A 5-time WWE United States Champion, many regard John Cena as possibly the greatest US Champion ever. He first won the belt back in 2004, by defeating Big Show in the opening match of WrestleMania 20. He held the belt three times before rising up the ranks and becoming the WWE Champion at WrestleMania 21.

In 2015, Cena got into a feud with Rusev and defeated him for the US Championship at WrestleMania 31. He soon announced that he would defend the title on a weekly basis, as a part of his US title Open Challenge. For the next few weeks, Cena gave us classic after classic with some of WWE's best talent, and a handful of rising stars.

Here are some big names that Cena successfully defended the belt against: Dean Ambrose, Neville, Stardust, Zack Ryder, Bad News Barrett, Kane, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro.

After delivering back-to-back bangers in what many deem as a resurgence of the US title, Cena finally lost the belt to Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2015.

#2 The intricate details of the new belt

The brand new US title

The brand new WWE United States title belt that MVP introduced on a recent episode of WWE RAW is an incredibly fine piece of art. Although there's a part of the WWE Universe that still prefers the old US title, many are hoping that the new belt replaces it.

The new title belt consists of three plates, with the one on the center shaped like a heptagon. On the topmost part of the plate, you can see the WWE logo, along with white stars on the background, which is in gold.

The middle part of the plate features the words "United States Champion", with the last taking up most of the space. An eagle is featured on the bottom of these three words, with its wings spread out across the shiny late.

The bottom-most part of the plate features the red & white stripes of the US flag. Finally, we have the side plates, that features the WWE logo that's slapped over a globe.

#1 A brief history of the belt

The United States title has a long and storied history attached to it. Harley Race was the first-ever United States Champion, back in 1975. He defeated Johnny Weaver in the finals of a tournament to determine the inaugural champion. The United States title is the only one among the current crop of WWE titles that didn't originate under the WWE umbrella.

It is the 2nd oldest title in WWE history, with the WWE Championship (established in 1963) holding the first place. To date, 97 different men have held the United States Championship, with Apollo Crews being the latest one. WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has had the most US title reigns, at six.

The shortest reigning US Champion in history is Stone Cold Steve Austin, who held the belt for a grand total of five minutes! Lex Luger holds the record of the longest US title reign, at 523 days. Only two men in history have held both the US and the World titles at the same time: Seth Rollins and WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram