10 Best WCW United States Champions To Never Hold The World Title

Back in the days of WCW, their top midcard belt was the United States Heavyweight Championship, eventually just referred to as the United States Championship. The title traces its roots back to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, an NWA territory run by Jim Crockett Jr.

The inaugural champion was the legendary Harley Race, one of the greatest performers of all time. Normally, a wrestler would pick up that belt on their way to the World Heavyweight Championship though that wasn't always the case. Some recognizable names never made that transition in WCW.

10 Roddy Piper

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper was easily one of the most respected performers in the history of the business. His bombastic demeanor combined with a hard-hitting in-ring style made him beloved by the fans despite almost always being a top heel.

Piper held the United States Championship on multiple occasions, first for NWA and eventually for WCW. He also held the Intercontinental Championship in the WWF era. Neither WWF nor WCW ever saw fit to put their big belts on him, a huge mistake on both of their parts.

9 Dean Malenko

Widely regarded as one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, Dean Malenko has had a huge impact on the business both in front of and behind the camera. At the height of the Monday Night Wars, he was one of four wrestlers to jump from WCW to WWF as a group.

During his time with WCW, he held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship four times and had one run with the United States Championship. But that success never translated into a main event run at the top of the company, though.

8 Curt Hennig

Whether fans knew him as Mr. Perfect in WWF or Curt Hennig in WCW, the consistent factor was always the quality of his work. The man was an incredible wrestler, and absolutely superb on the mic. As such, it was a shame that he was never given a main event title run by either WWF or WCW.

Curt Hennig held the United States Championship once for WCW in 1997 while he held the Intercontinental Championship for WWF twice. Both companies never quite seemed to understand the caliber of talent they had on their hands with Hennig.

7 Konnan

While his brief run with WWF wasn't exactly auspicious, the Lucha legend called Konnan had a much better run in WCW. He was never going to be their top champion, and fans knew that, but he still had a solid career there.

In addition to the United States Championship, Konnan also held the World Television Championship and had a couple of runs as a tag champion. Still, it's unfortunate that WCW management never saw fit to take a chance on putting their top belt on one of the most popular performers to ever work in the major Mexican promotions.

6 Dustin Rhodes

No one ever seems to quite get the level of talent they have on their hands with Dustin Rhodes. The son of a son of a plumber is part of one of the greatest wrestling families in the history of the business. Yet, he always seems to be blocked out of the main event picture for some reason despite his talent and skill.

Dustin held the United States Championship twice, which was broken up by a war with Rick Rude over the title. Rhodes' father Dusty had held this same belt for NWA six years earlier, making it a family affair.

5 Steve Austin

Dustin Rhodes' second reign as the United States Champion came to an end thanks to a young gun out of Texas named Steve Austin. It was during this time that fans started getting glimpses of who Austin would become, though no one knew it at the time.

Only months after losing the championship, Austin was fired by WCW as Eric Bischoff didn't see a marketable future for him. Vince McMahon did and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was born in WWF. He played a large role in WWF defeating WCW during the Monday Night Wars, becoming a six-time WWE Champion.

4 Ricky Steamboat

When fans talk about the faces on their respective wrestling Mount Rushmores, the name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat does not come up anywhere near enough. As one of the most entertaining and skilled performers of all time, he deserves to be in the conversation.

Steamboat held the United Stated Championship on several occasions, first for NWA and then for WCW. His WCW reign was unfortunately cut short by a legitimate back injury that saw him vacate the title and retire from in-ring competition for eight years. Had that forced hiatus from wrestling not happened, he may have made the leap to the main event scene.

3 Lance Storm

Being entertaining and ridiculous doesn't require being silly. Lance Storm proved that at many times in his career by being the most stoic funny guy around. But the comedy he brought to the ring didn't cover up the incredible caliber of performer fans were seeing. The man was a technician's technician.

Lance held the United States Championship on three occasions, his longest run being 66 days. His reigns may have been best known for renaming the title the Canadian Heavyweight Championship, among other changes he made.

2 Eddie Guerrero

There's a really good chance that the late Eddie Guerrero was the greatest wrestler that Eric Bischoff slept on in WCW. He was at least in the top five. There were several over the years but the talent Eddie had never came close to being realized in that company.

His victory in winning the United States Heavyweight Championship should have led him to the main event scene though that never came to be. He made the choice to jump to WWF, which proved to be the smart move. Eddie would eventually become the WWE Champion and a respected Hall of Famer.

1 Rick Rude

"Ravishing" Rick Rude sure knew how to work the crowd, particularly the women in the audience. That was his gimmick, after all, particularly in his WWF days. Keeping in mind that he was WCW's longest reigning United States Champion, it was a surprise that he never made the transition to holding WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

That being said, he did have three reigns as the WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, an important distinction. It was the main belt of a fictitious WCW subsidiary brand called WCW International and was defended in Japan on several occasions.

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