Unlike most other championships currently
defended on Raw and SmackDown, the United States Championship did not
start out as a recognized WWE Championship. Rather, the U.S.
Championship got its roots in WCW. Many of the ring's greatest names
have staked claim to the U.S. Title during the title's early years,
including WWE Hall of Famers Sgt. Slaughter and Greg Valentine. With
each great name that captured the championship came more prestige. In
the late 1990s, however, the U.S. Championship was vacated more times
than WWE fans could keep up with. As a result, the championship lost a
bit of its luster. Years later, the U.S. Championship finally regained
the glory it held in years past when competitors like Eddie Guerrero,
Booker T and John Cena fought over it in many memorable battles.