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In 1976, The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) crowned the first United States Champion when Harley Race defeated Johny Weaver to become the NWA United States Champion. The title went through several incarnations before it became the WWE United States Championship currently held by Hurt Business' Bobby Lashley. Prominent superstars who held the title in the WWE include Edge, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, and The Miz.
Booker T was the first person to hold what was then known as the WCW United States Championship in the WWE following Vince McMahon's acquisition in 2001. After the reigning Champion, Edge, beat the Intercontinental Champion, Test, at Survivor Series, the United States Championship was deactivated and was merged into the IC belt.
The current incarnation of the WWE United States Championship started in 2003 after Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Benoit in a tournament to become the inaugural champion. Since then, there have been 72 different titles before Bobby Lashley's current run.
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Lex Luger's third run as WCW United States Champion is the longest for any lineage, lasting 523 days. However, there have been a lot of dominant runs with the belt since the title was introduced on WWE programming. Let's look at the five longest United States Championship runs in WWE.
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5. The Miz - 224 days as WWE US Champion
While The Miz has had eight different Intercontinental Championship runs, he has only won the United States Championship twice. However, it was his first run with the belt in 2009 that gave him credibility as a serious singles competitor. He won the title from Kofi Kingston after three unsuccessful attempts and then held on to it for more than seven months.
During that time, The Miz started an interbrand rivalry with the then Intercontinental Champion, John Morrison, besting him at multiple pay-per-view events. His subsequent feud with MVP was also well received with The Miz coming out on top again.
His run ended at the hands of the WWE legend, Bret Hart, in Toronto after The Miz tapped out to the Sharpshooter. It was more of a feel-good moment for the Canadian crowd rather than an actual match and the long-retired Hart relinquished the title the next week.
A month later, The Miz became champion again. In fact, he won the tag team titles and the Money in the Bank briefcase during this period. This eventually led to the Miz' WWE Championship win. He later defended the prestigious title in the main event of WrestleMania XXVII.
2. Cesaro - 240 days as WWE US Champion
It has been so long since Cesaro held a WWE singles title that it is easy to forget that he is much more than a tag team specialist. Then billed as 'Antonio Cesaro', the Swiss Superman won the United States Championship - still his only singles Championship in the WWE - a few months after his debut in 2012.
He did not have quality opponents for the majority of his title run with, with his first opponent being former Champion Santino Marella. Cesaro successfully defended the title against Marella, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Zack Ryder, and R-Truth before finally getting an opponent of stature in The Miz, whom he beat on multiple WWE PPVs.
His title run reminded fans of his superhuman strength, with Cesaro even delivering a Neutralizer to the Great Khali during a United States Championship match. He additionally had great matches at NXT during this time against the likes of Neville and Sami Zayn.
Kofi Kingston finally beat Cesaro for the title on the 15 April 2013 episode of RAW, ending the run at 240 days. Big things seemed to be on the horizon for Cesaro even after that, with him forming a stable with Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. Cesaro won the first-ever Andre the Giant Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 30 and got Paul Heyman as his advocate for a short while before his push was stopped.
3. Shelton Benjamin - 243 days as WWE US Champion
Shelton Benjamin won his only WWE United States Championship at the 2008 Great American Bash PPV, defeating Matt Hardy in what was considered to be an upset. While Benjamin's title run lasted 243 days, it didn't raise the prestige of the Championship.
His rivals for the title included the likes of R-Truth and the Hurricane, who did little to trouble Benjamin's hold on the belt. His only meaningful angle over the title started when former Champion and future Hurt Business stablemate MVP decided to challenge for the belt.
MVP had started a losing streak after his United States Championship defeat to Matt Hardy earlier in the year and had just captured his first victory in five months in a Last Man Standing match against the Big Show. This turned MVP face and he challenged Benjamin for the US title at the 17 March 2009 episode of SmackDown.
Benjamin lost the match and the title to MVP and moved on to the ECW brand soon after. While he had an ECW Championship feud against Christian, Benjamin's star was starting to fade and he left the WWE in April 2010.
2. MVP - 343 days as WWE US Champion
Montel Vontavious Porter had a true main eventer's WWE debut back in 2007 as he was (in storyline) signed to the largest contract in the SmackDown history. He was immediately working with the likes of Kane and The Undertaker, which confirmed that the WWE brass expected big things from him.
He would further enhance his prospects during a feud with Chris Benoit over the United States Championship. After failing to defeat Benoit at Wrestlemania 23 and Backlash, MVP would eventually win the title in a 2 out of 3 Falls match at Judgement Day.
He would defend the title successfully against the likes of Benoit and Ric Flair before starting a prolonged angle with Matt Hardy. MVP would claim that he was better than Hardy at everything, which started a series of segments where MVP and Hardy tried to out-do each other.
MVP was legitimately diagnosed with a heart condition during this time and the segments were a means to feature MVP without in-ring action. During the course of their feud, Hardy and MVP would win and lose the tag team titles before MVP attacked Hardy to put him out of action.
Hardy would cost MVP the Money in the Bank Ladder match at WrestleMania 24 with a run-in and the duo finally met for the title at Backlash 2009. Hardy would beat MVP to capture the championship, ending the latter's reign at 343 days. It was the third-longest US Championship reign of all time and the longest one inside the WWE umbrella at that time.
1. Dean Ambrose - 351 days as WWE US Champion
During his WWE days, Dean Ambrose (now signed to AEW and known as Jon Moxley) became a Grand Slam Champion, winning all available titles in the company. As Dean Ambrose, the first title he captured was the United States Championship in 2013.
The Shield had debuted in the WWE in November 2012 and Ambrose won the US Championship from Kofi Kingston at Extreme Rules 2013, the same PPV where his Shield partners Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns captured the Tag Team Championship. Ambrose would have his first successful title defense against Kane at Payback.
Ambrose was portrayed as the leader of the stable in those early days, with Reigns and Rollins constantly interfering on his behalf. Further US Championship defenses would follow against the likes of Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, and Big E. Ambrose would still be the US Champion when Shield turned face during a rivalry with Triple H and he surpassed MVP as the longest-reigning WWE United States Champion on April 28, 2014.
With the record broken, WWE decided to take the title off Ambrose in order to add more heat to The Shield's feud with Evolution. Ambrose would be forced to defend his title in a 20-man Battle Royal and despite surviving till the final two, he was eliminated by Sheamus to end his reign two weeks before its one-year anniversary.
