5 Superstars with longest United States Championship reigns in WWE
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.
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.
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.