10 Awful Championships WWE Doesn't Want You To Remember

When companies decided to leave the National Wrestling Alliance, they usually tried to take a championship with them.

Naturally, the World Wide Wrestling Federation left with the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, a title they'd been using in their territory for a few years anyway. Much like the WWE Championship, the first winner was Buddy Rogers, who held the strap for 436 days, then vacated the belt after winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

What made this title so pointless? The Fed wasn't the only company that decided to make splinter versions of the belt. Companies across America borrowed the belt from the NWA, then launched their own versions. Some were more successful than others; the WCW United States Championship was the most successful spin-off, starting its life in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and continuing its continuity in WWE to this day.

The main purpose of the WWE version, which was retired in 1976, was to give Bobo Brazil something to do. The real-life Houston Harris (how was that not his character's name?) was one of the first successful African-American wrestlers. He held the USH Championship seven times across eight years which included a 1,837 reign that began when he was simply handed the gold.

Sure, it was quite progressive in the 1970s to push a black wrestler in this way, but other superstars who held the USH title, like Rogers and Pedro Morales, and The Sheik weren't kept in the midcard. One step forward, two steps back.

WWE got things back on track when the Intercontinental Championship was introduced in 1979; there's no wonder you won't find a single mention of this belt on TV.