5 Best United States Champions In WWE History (& 5 Best In WCW History)

The United States Championship has a few different legacies to different generations of fans. WCW viewers loved the title as the more popular mid-card belt for the rising stars or big names outside of the main event picture to compete over. WWE fans have become used to the title being part of the company over the past seventeen years.

Many of the industry's biggest names have held the United States Championship at some point in their careers. Some names stand out better than others when looking at the legacy of the belt. Find out which performers had the best stints with the title over the multiple companies. The following wrestlers were either the best United States Champions in WWE or WCW history.

10 WWE: Eddie Guerrero

WWE reintroduced the United States Championship in 2003 following the bigger shift in the brand split. Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Benoit in the finals of a tournament to win the title at Vengeance 2003 in memorable fashion.

The credibility and great matches from Guerrero helped make the title important. Eddie gained momentum during this title reign to move into the main event scene. Vince McMahon developed enough trust in Guerrero to win the WWE Championship a few months later.

9 WCW: Lex Luger

Lex Luger was WCW’s biggest project in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when hoping to build new stars. Fans were hit or miss with Luger trying to figure out if he was worth the hype. Luger had the longest United States Championship in the belt’s linage.

WCW trusted Luger to hold the title for a total of 523 days during his best reign from May of 1989 to October of 1990 when dropping it to Sting. Luger also is tied for the most United States Championship reigns at five.

8 WWE: Rusev

The first year of Rusev on the WWE main roster featured him becoming a top heel. Rusev had an undefeated streak with the anti-American gimmick. Lana cutting promos for him made them an over act.

The United States Championship win of Rusev established him as someone moving up the rankings. Unfortunately, things started to trend downhill for Rusev when he lost the title to John Cena at WrestleMania 31.

7 WCW: Lance Storm

Lance Storm was one of the few bright spots for WCW in the final year. The push for Storm saw him using the Canadian background to form Team Canada and become an anti-American character for the heat.

Storm winning the United States Championship saw him placing a Canadian sticker over the American flag and renaming it the Canadian Championship. WCW lucked out with Storm giving them at least one successful new act.

6 WWE: Daniel Bryan

The United States Championship helped Daniel Bryan get over in WWE as a face. Bryan returned following a firing to enter a feud with The Miz. Both wrestlers made the title seem more important with their matches providing a big fight feel.

Bryan had other great matches against Dolph Ziggler, John Morrison, and Ted DiBiase Jr. during his title reign. The United States Championship was the perfect stepping-stone for Bryan to show his skills before moving up the card.

5 WCW: Diamond Dallas Page

The rise of Diamond Dallas Page in 1997 saw him becoming a fan favorite. DDP not only did well in his feud against the New World Order, but he made the United States Championship a beloved title after a few others disappointed with the belt.

The late 1997 title reign started with an impressive win over Curt Hennig. Page was having some of the best matches in the industry against Raven and Chris Benoit during his time. WCW didn’t feel the timing was right for DDP in the world title picture, so this was a perfect middle ground for the fans.

4 WWE: MVP

MVP became the wrestler most associated with the United States Championship in WWE during the late 2000s. The introduction of MVP saw him playing an arrogant free agent wrestler with influence from Terrell Owens receiving backlash for his antics.

WWE booked MVP well with the United States Championship to continue moving forward in his career. An argument can be made MVP made it the most interesting title on Smackdown for a short while. The nearly one-year-long reign even ended perfectly when dropping the belt to Matt Hardy after their long feud.

3 WCW: Steve Austin

It is easy to overlook Steve Austin’s WCW work since he was a far bigger star in WWE, but he did have a great United States Championship reign for WCW. Austin had quite a few great matches in WCW despite the strange booking.

An eight-month-long title reign saw Austin thriving as the United States Champion before dropping it to Ricky Steamboat. Austin was scheduled to have another long reign until Hulk Hogan came in and changed all of WCW plans.

2 WWE: John Cena

No WWE star did more for the United States Championship than John Cena. The 2004 rise of Cena saw him holding the title to gain more momentum before his main event run. Cena even had his own custom spinner title.

However, the bigger surprise was that Cena had an even better title reign later into his career. Cena winning the United States Championship in 2015 led to him having an open challenge. Fans were treated to Cena having great matches with mystery opponents every week.

1 WCW: Rick Rude

Rick Rude moving from WWE to WCW allowed him to showcase his full potential in a bigger role. The United States Championship was a huge boost for Rude when holding it for over a full year from November 1991 to December 1992.

Rude didn’t even lose the title as he vacated the belt due to injury. Feuds with Sting and Ricky Steamboat proved Rude was one of the best wrestlers of his era and the greatest United States Champion in WCW’s history.

NEXT: 10 United States Champions WWE Probably Regrets Giving The Title To