10 Most Bizarre Wrestling Title Lineages
4. WWE United States Championship
Holders range from Blackjack Mulligan to Ricky Steamboat to Steve 'Mongo' McMichael to Orlando Jordan, running almost the entire wrestling spectrum from legitimate monster to technical wizard to two of the dirt-worst to ever do it.
Once one of the most prestigious titles in all of wrestling, the United States Championship when governed by Mid-Atlantic was the proto-Intercontinental belt, in that holding it was a premonition of greatness. Ric Flair (1977), Roddy Piper ('81) and Ricky Steamboat ('84) all held the strap before defining the '80s with their brilliance. WCW followed this trend to more diminished effect, what with Steve Austin ('93) and Jim Duggan ('94) (!) highlighting the random quality that led to its decline. Vince Russo then took a star-maker and swerved/ruined the f*ck out of it with his bullsh*t.
"What's the opposite of American? Canadian, bro!"
He turned it into a gimmick, a specific vehicle for a midcard Lance Storm storyline, less than a year before the company folded.
It was reactivated by WWE in 2003, where it mostly meant nothing outside of John Cena's grip and was held by all of the midcarders WWE ever hired for the resulting 17 years. It is recognised as a continuation, not a reboot. It has to be.
The lineage of the similarly reactivated Intercontinental Title remains canon because it's not as if, when a babyface vows to bring "the prestige" back to the title, he's talking about the heady days of 2003 RAW.