The WWE United States Championship began as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship in 1975. The title was changed to the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in 1991. After the WWE bought WCW, they eventually activated the title again, calling it the WWE United States Championship that we see today. Here are the 10 longest United States Championship reigns of all time.
Note*** This is single title reigns and not combined reigns.
The 10 Longest WWE United States Championship Reigns
10) Cesaro – 239 days.
Cesaro (as Antonio Cesaro), won the U.S title on the Summerslam 2012 kickoff show when he defeated Santino Marella. He held the title for 239 days until he was defeated by Kofi Kingston on the April 15th, 2013 episode of RAW.
Tied for 8) Shelton Benjamin – 240 days.
Benjamin won the title after defeating Matt Hardy at the Great American Bash 2008. He held the belt until March 20, 2009 where he would be defeated by MVP. Fun fact: Benjamin lost the title on the 500th episode of Smackdown.
Tied For 8) Steve Austin – 240 days.
Steve Austin won the WCW United States Heavyweight Title at Starrcade 1993 after defeating Dustin Rhodes (Goldust) in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Austin lost the title to Ricky Steamboat on August 24, 1994, ending his reign at 240 days.
7) Ric Flair – 265 days.
Flair won the NWA United States Heavyweight Title for a second time on April 9, 1978 after defeating Tim Woods. He held onto the title for 265 days before losing the belt to his rival Ricky Steamboat in Toronto. This turned out to be the longest of his 6 reigns as U.S Champ.
6) Barry Windham – 283 days.
Windham defeated Nikita Koloff in a tournament final to win the vacant NWA United States Heavyweight Championship on May 13th, 1988. Windham defended the title against Brad Armstrong, Dusty Rhodes, Sting and Bam Bam Bigelow. He dropped the title to Lex Luger after a 9 month reign.
5) Nikita Koloff – 328 days.
Koloff defeated Magnum T.A. in the final match of their best of seven series in August of 1986. He defeated Wahoo McDaniel a month later to unify the U.S title and the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. Koloff lost to Lex Luger in a steel cage match to end his 11 month reign.
4) MVP – 343 days.
MVP won the U.S title after defeating Chris Benoit in a 2/3 falls match at Judgement Day 2007. MVP dropped the belt to Matt Hardy at Backlash 2008, after an impressive 343 day run as champion.
3) Dean Ambrose – 351 days.
Ambrose won the title at Extreme Rules 2013, where he defeated Kofi Kingston for his first singles title in the WWE. Ambrose held the title for an impressive 351 days (the most in the modern era). He finally lost the title to Sheamus in a 20 man battle royal on RAW.
2) Rick Rude – 419 days.
At Clash of the Champions XVIIon November 19, 1991, Rude defeated Sting to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. In December of 1992, Rude suffered a legitimate neck injury that forced him to forfeit the belt. Rude had an impressive reign of 419 days, which is still good for second all time.
1) Lex Luger – 523 days.
Luger’s 3rd U.S title win turned out to be not only his longest, but the longest United States Championship reign of all time. Luger defeated Michael Hayes to win the title back in May of 1989. His reign ended up being for 17 months until he lost to Stan Hansen at Halloween Havoc 1990.
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Make sure to check out our similar list of WWE Intercontinental Champions.
