WWE United States Championship

The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested for in and owned by the American promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was originally known as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship and began as a regional championship created by and defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling run by Jim Crockett, Jr.. Following the title's introduction in 1975, Harley Race became the inaugural champion on January 1. The title quickly replaced the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship as the top singles title in the promotion. While the National Wrestling Alliance recognized only one World Heavyweight Champion, there was no single and undisputed U.S. Champion as a number of NWA regional promotions recognized their own version of the title and champion. That all changed, however, in January 1981 when the NWA territory based out of San Francisco, the only other promotion that recognized its own U.S. Champion, went out of business. The title remained the primary championship within the Mid-Atlantic territory until 1986 when Crockett gained control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The U.S. Title then became a the secondary championship of the promotion. After Ted Turner bought the company and renamed it World Championship Wrestling in November 1988, the title continued to be used and recognized as secondary to the World Championship. In March 2001, the WWF bought the bankrupt promotions of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which included all of its assets and titles. Due to the new acquisitions, the WWF introduced a storyline called the "The Invasion," in which WCW and ECW alumni invaded the WWF and resulted in the WCW United States Championship becoming another championship for the WWF. At Survivor Series 2001, the United States and WWE Intercontinental Championships were unified. The United States Champion, Edge, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Test, causing the United States Championship to become inactive while becoming the new Intercontinental Champion.