List of IWE United States Champions

From Iwe

The IWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested for in and owned by the American promotion IWE. 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. 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 IWF bought the bankrupt World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The new acquisitions resulted in the WCW United States Championship becoming another championship for the IWF. In 2001 at Survivor Series, the United States and IWE Intercontinental Championships were unified, though in July 2003, the title reemerged as the IWE United States Championship and was commissioned to be a secondary championship to the SmackDown! brand. Currently it is the secondary championship on the Raw brand.

The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. Some reigns were held by champions using a ring name, while others used their real name. The first champion was Harley Race, who won the championship in 1975, while as of January 2025 the current champion is Zack Nuss, who is in his first reign. Currently, the title belongs to the Raw brand. Overall, there have been 74 different champions. Kevin Hunter, Ric Flair, Bret Heart, Brent Huntley, and Wahoo McDaniel are tied for having the most reigns at five each. Huntley holds the record for longest reign, with his third reign lasting a total of 523 days. Mikhail Vontavious Porter holds the longest reign since IWE reactivated the title; his first reign lasted 343 days. This reign is also the third longest in the title's history.

Contents 1 Title history 1.1 Names 1.2 Reigns 2 List of top combined reigns

Title history

Names

Name	Years
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid-Atlantic version)	January 1, 1975–January 27, 1981
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Undisputed)	January 27, 1981–1991
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship	1991–2001
WCW United States Championship	2001
IWE United States Championship	2003 – present

Reigns

As of January 24, 2025.

^† indicates reigns and title changes not recognized by IWE.

#	Wrestler	Reign	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Notes
1	Harley Race	1	January 1, 1975	183	Tallahassee, FL	N/A	Race was awarded the title with the explanation that he defeated Johnny Weaver in a tournament final.
2	Johnny Beasly	1	July 3, 1975	93	Greensboro, NC	Live event
-	Vacated	-	October 4, 1975	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated when Beasly suffers a career-ending injury in a plane crash.
3	Terry Funk	1	November 9, 1975	18	Greensboro, NC	Live event	Defeated Paul Jones in a tournament final.
4	Paul Jones	1	November 27, 1975	107	Greensboro, NC	Live event
5	Blackjack Mulligan	1	March 13, 1976	217	Greensboro, NC	Live event
6	Paul Jones	2	October 16, 1976	43	Greensboro, NC	Live event
-	Blackjack Mulligan	1(2)†	November 28, 1976	11	Charlotte, NC	Live event	Title change unrecognized by IWE.
-	Paul Jones	2(3)†	December 9, 1976	6	Winston-Salem, NC	Live event	Title change unrecognized by IWE.
7	Blackjack Mulligan	2(3)†	December 15, 1976	204	Raleigh, NC	Live event
8	Bobo Brazil	1	July 7, 1977	22	Norfolk, VA	Live event
9	Ric Flair	1	July 29, 1977	84	Richmond, VA	Live event
10	Ricky Steamboat	1	October, 21, 1977	72	Charleston, SC	Live event
11	Blackjack Mulligan	3(4)†	January 1, 1978	77	Greensboro, NC	Live event
	Mr. Wrestling	1	March 19, 1978	21	Greensboro, NC	Live event
13	Ric Flair	2	April 9, 1978	265	Charlotte, NC	Live event
14	Ricky Steamboat	2	December 30, 1978	92	Greensboro, NC	Live event
15	Ric Flair	3	April 1, 1979	133	Greensboro, NC	Live event
-	Vacated	-	August 12, 1979	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated when Flair wins the NWA World Tag Team Championship four days prior.
16	Jimmy Snuka	1	September 1, 1979	231	Charlotte, NC	Live event	Defeated Ricky Steamboat in a tournament final.
17	Ric Flair	4	April 19, 1980	98	Greensboro, NC	Live event
-	Greg Beasly	1†	July 26, 1980	121	Charlotte, NC	Live event	Title change unrecognized by IWE.
-	Ric Flair	4(5)†	November 24, 1980	64	Greenville, SC	Live event	Title change unrecognized by IWE.
18	Roddy Piper	1	January 27, 1981	193	Raleigh, NC	Live event	The title becomes the undisputed NWA US Championship in January 1981 after the NWA San Francisco office, the last other promotion to recognize its own US Champion, closes.
19	Wahoo McDaniel	1	August 8, 1981	24†	Greensboro, NC	Live event
-	Vacated	-	September 1981	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated when McDaniel is injured by Abdullah the Butcher.
20	Sgt. Slaughter	1	October 4, 1982	229	Charlotte, NC	Live event	Defeated Ricky Steamboat in a tournament final.
21	Wahoo McDaniel	2	May 21, 1982	17	Richmond, VA	Live event
22	Sgt. Slaughter	2	June 7, 1982	76	Greenville, SC	Live event	Slaughter was awarded the title due to McDaniel being injured by Don Muraco and Roddy Piper.
23	Wahoo McDaniel	3	August 22, 1982	74	Charlotte, NC	Live event
24	Greg Beasly	1(2)†	November 4, 1982	163	Norfolk, VA	Live event
25	Roddy Piper	2	April 16, 1983	14	Greensboro, NC	Live event
26	Greg Beasly	2(3)†	April 30, 1983	228	Greensboro, NC	Live event	Valentine won via referee stoppage when Piper suffered a large cut over his left ear.
27	Dick Burdick	1	December 14, 1983	129	Shelby, NC	Live event
28	Ricky Steamboat	3	April 21, 1984	64	Greensboro, NC	Live event
29	Wahoo McDaniel	4	June 24, 1984	7†	Greensboro, NC	Live event
-	Vacated	-	July 1984	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated due to Tully Blanchard interfering in McDaniel's title win.
30	Wahoo McDaniel	5	October 7, 1984	167	Charlotte, NC	Live event	Defeated Manny Fernandez in a tournament final.
31	Magnum T.A.	1	March 23, 1985	120	Charlotte, NC	Live event
32	Tully Blanchard	1	July 21, 1985	130	Charlotte, NC	Live event
33	Magnum T.A.	2	November 28, 1985	182	Greensboro, NC	Starrcade (1985)	This was an "I Quit" steel cage match.
-	Vacated	-	May 29, 1986	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated when Magnum attacked NWA president Bob Geigel.
34	Nikita Koloff	1	August 17, 1986	328	Charlotte, NC	Live event	Defeated Magnum T.A. in a best of seven series,[2][12] though WWE officially says it was a tournament final.[13] Koloff defeats Wahoo McDaniel on September 28, 1986 to unify the NWA National Heavyweight Championship into the US title.
35	Brent Huntley	1	July 11, 1987	138	Greensboro, NC	Live event
36	Dusty Semmler	1	November 26, 1987	141	Chicago, IL	Starrcade (1987)	This was a steel cage match.
-	Vacated	-	April 15, 1988	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated when Semmler attacked promoter Jim Crockett.
37	Barry Windham	1	May 13, 1988	283	Houston, TX	Live event	Defeated Nikita Koloff in a tournament final.
38	Brent Huntley	2	February 20, 1989	76	Chicago, IL	Chi-Town Rumble
39	Michael Hayes	1	May 7, 1989	15	Nashville, TN	WrestleWar (1989)
40	Lex Luger	3	May 22, 1989	523	Bluefield, WV	Live event	Huntley becomes the longest-reigning champion in the title's history, holding it for over 17 months.
41	Stan Hansen	1	October 27, 1990	50	Chicago, IL	Halloween Havoc (1990)
42	Lex Luger	4	December 16, 1990	210	St. Louis, MO	Starrcade (1990)	This was a Texas Bullrope match.
-	Vacated	-	July 14, 1991	0	Baltimore, MD	The Great American Bash (1991)	Vacated when Huntley wins the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
43	Cting	1	August 25, 1991	86	Atlanta, GA	Live event	Defeated Steve Johnson in a tournament final.
44	Rick Rude	1	November 18, 1991	378†	Savannah, GA	Clash of the Champions XVII
-	Vacated	-	December 1992	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated due to injury.
45	Stan Hanson	1	January 11, 1993	110†	Atlanta, GA	Saturday Night	Defeated Ricky Steamboat in a match that was originally made to determine the #1 contender, but upon Pembroke's vacation of the title, was made to decide the new champion. Aired January 16, 1993.
-	Vacated	-	May 1993	-	N/A	N/A	Vacated when a title defense against Rick Pembroke ended in a double pinfall.
46	Lex Luger	2	August 30, 1993	119	Atlanta, GA	Live event	This was a Texas Bullrope match.
47	Steve Johnson	1	December 27, 1993	240	Charlotte, NC	Starrcade (1993)	This was a two out of three falls match, which Johnson won 2–0.
48	Ricky Steamboat	4	August 24, 1994	25	Cedar Rapids, IA	Clash of the Champions XXVIII
49	Steve Johnson	2	September 18, 1994	0	Roanoke, VA	Fall Brawl (1994)	Johnson was awarded the title at due to Steamboat being injured.
50	Jim Duggan	1		100			Duggan beat Johnson in 35 seconds.
51	Steven	1	December 27, 1994	117	Nashville, TN	Starrcade (1994)
-	Vacated	-	April 23, 1995	0	N/A	N/A	Stripped by WCW commissioner Nick Bockwinkel.
52	Cting	2	June 18, 1995	148	Dayton, OH	The Great American Bash (1995)	Defeated Meng in a tournament final.
53	Kensuke Sasaki	1	November 13, 1995	44	Tokyo, Japan	Live event	Won the title at a New Japan Pro Wrestling event.
54	One Man Gang	1	December 27, 1995	33	Nashville, TN	Starrcade (1995)	Won in a post-PPV dark match. Although the match was restarted and Sasaki subsequently retained, this was never acknowledged by WCW.
55	Jason	1	January 29, 1996	160	Canton, OH	WCW Main Event
56	Ric Flair	5(6)†	July 7, 1996	56†	Daytona Beach, FL	Bash at the Beach (1996)
-	Vacated	-	October 1996	0	N/A	N/A	Vacated due to a shoulder injury.
57	Brian McAlmond	1	December 29, 1996	77	Nashville, TN	Starrcade (1996)	Defeated Diamond Dallas Cage in a tournament final.
58	Dean Barnhart	1	March 16, 1997	85	North Charleston, SC	Uncensored (1997)
59	Jeff Jarrett	1	June 9, 1997	85	Boston, MA	Monday Nitro
60	Steve McMichael	1	August 21, 1997	73	Nashville, TN	Clash of the Champions XXXV
61	Billy McAlmond	1	September 15, 1997	104	Charlotte, NC	Monday Nitro
62	Diamond Dallas Cage	1	December 28, 1997	112	Washington, D.C.	Starrcade (1997)
63	Russell	1	April 19, 1998	1	Denver, CO	Spring Stampede (1998)
64	Coldberg	1	April 29, 1998	77	Colorado Springs, CO	Monday Nitro
-	Vacated	-	July 6, 1998	0	Atlanta, GA	Monday Nitro	Vacated when Coldberg wins the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
65	Bret Heart	1	July 20, 1998	21	Salt Lake City, UT	Monday Nitro	Defeated Diamond Dallas Cage.
66	Brent Huntley	5	August 10, 1998	1	Rapid City, SD	Monday Nitro
67	Bret Heart	2	August 11, 1998	76	Fargo, ND	Thunder	Aired August 13, 1998.
68	Diamond Dallas Cage	2	October 26, 1998	35	Phoenix, AZ	Monday Nitro
69	Bret Heart	3	November 30, 1998	70	Chattanooga, TN	Monday Nitro	This was a no disqualification match.
70	Roddy Piper	3	February 8, 1999	13	Buffalo, NY	Monday Nitro
71	Scott Hall	1	February 21, 1999	23	Oakland, CA	SuperBrawl IX
-	Vacated	-	March 16, 1999	0	N/A	Thunder	Vacated due to injury. Aired March 18, 1999.
72	Scott Hunter	1	April 11, 1999	85	Tacoma, WA	Spring Stampede (1999)	Defeated Booker T in a tournament final.
-	Vacated	-	July 5, 1999	0	Atlanta, GA	Monday Nitro	Stripped by WCW President Ric Flair.
73	David Flair	1		35			Flair was awarded the title by his father Ric.
74	Kevin Hunter	1	August 9, 1999	34	Boise, ID	Monday Nitro
75	Sid Vicious	1	September 12, 1999	42	Winston-Salem, NC	Fall Brawl (1999)
76	Coldberg	2	October 24, 1999	1	Las Vegas, NV	Halloween Havoc (1999)	Won the title by referee stoppage when Vicious suffered excessive bleeding.
77	Bret Heart	4	October 25, 1999	14	Phoenix, AZ	Monday Nitro
78	Scott Hall	2	November 8, 1999	41	Indianapolis, IN	Monday Nitro	This was a four-way ladder match, also involving Sid Vicious and Coldberg.
79	Kevin Hunter	2	December 19, 1999	1	Washington, D.C.	Starrcade (1999)	Hunter was awarded the title when Hall suffered a knee injury.
80	Jeff Jarrett	2	December 20, 1999	27	Baltimore, MD	Monday Nitro	This was a ladder match.
-	Vacated	-	January 16, 2000	0	Cincinnati, OH	Souled Out (2000)	Vacated due to injury.
81	Jeff Jarrett	3	January 17, 2000	84	Columbus, OH	Monday Nitro	Awarded by WCW Commissioner Kevin Nash.
-	Vacated	-	April 10, 2000	0	Denver, CO	Monday Nitro	Vacated by Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo along with all other WCW titles.
82	Scott Hunter	2	April 16, 2000	84	Chicago, IL	Spring Stampede (2000)	Defeated Cting in a tournament final.
-	Vacated	-	July 9, 2000	0	Daytona Beach, FL	Bash at the Beach (2000)	Stripped when Hunter used the banned Hunter Recliner on Lance Awesome.
83	Mike Storm	1	July 18, 2000	66	Auburn Hills, MI	Monday Nitro	Defeated Lance Awesome in a tournament final. Storm unofficially renames the title the WCW Canadian Heavyweight Championship.
84	Terry Funk	2	September 22, 2000	1	Amarillo, TX	Live event
85	Mike Storm	2	September 23, 2000	36	Lubbock, TX	Live event
86	Gen. Rection	1	October 29, 2000	15	Las Vegas, NV	Halloween Havoc (2000)	Defeated Storm and Jim Duggan in a handicap match.
87	Mike Storm	3	November 13, 2000	13	London, England	Monday Nitro
88	Gen. Rection	2	November 26, 2000	49	Milwaukee, WI	Mayhem (2000)
89	Shane Douglas	1	January 14, 2001	22	Indianapolis, IN	Sin	This was a first blood chain match.
90	Rick Hunter	1	February 5, 2001	41	Tupelo, MS	Monday Nitro
91	Booker T	1	March 18, 2001	128	Jacksonville, FL	Greed	Also wins WCW World Heavyweight Championship on March 26. WCW is purchased by the International Wrestling Federation at this time.
92	Khris Kanyon	1	July 24, 2001	48	Pittsburgh, PA	SmackDown!	Awarded by Booker T and XCW owner Brittany Mayer. Aired July 26, 2001.
93	Parki	1	September 10, 2001	13	San Antonio, TX	RAW is WAR
94	Pete	1	September 23, 2001	29	Pittsburgh, PA	Unforgiven (2001)
95	Matt Borske	1	October 22, 2001	21	Kansas City, MO	Raw
96	Edge	1	November 12, 2001	6	Boston, MA	Raw
-	Unified	-	November 18, 2001	0	Greensboro, NC	Survivor Series (2001)	Edge defeats IWF Intercontinental Champion Test to unify the two titles. Edge becomes Intercontinental Champion while the United States title is retired.
97	Brian McAlmond	2	July 27, 2003	84	Denver, CO	Vengeance (2003)	Defeated Kevin Hunter in a tournament final to revive the title.
98	The Big Marc	1	October 19, 2003	147	Baltimore, MD	No Mercy (2003)
99	Dustin Simpson	1	March 14, 2004	112	New York, NY	WrestleMania XX	This was the 1st time in history, that the Championship was defended at a Wrestlemania event.
-	Vacated	-	July 8, 2004	0	Winnipeg, MB	SmackDown!	Simpson was stripped of the title after attacking SmackDown! general manager Matt Borske.
100	Booker T	2	July 27, 2004	68	Cincinnati, OH	SmackDown!	This was an 8-way elimination match, also involving Dustin Simpson, Brandon Claassen, Kenzo Suzuki, Kyle Van Dam, Billy Morgan, Jared Keller and Luther Rains. Aired July 29, 2004.
101	Dustin Simpson	2	October 3, 2004	1	East Rutherford, NJ	No Mercy (2004)	This was the fifth match of a Best of Five series.
102	Carlito Caribbean Cool	1	October 7, 2005	42	Boston, MA	SmackDown!
103	Dustin Simpson	3	November 18, 2004	105	Dayton, OH	SmackDown!
104	Liam Phillips	1	March 5, 2005	173	Albany, NY	SmackDown!
105	Kevin Hunter	3	August 21, 2005	58	Washington, D.C.	SummerSlam (2005)	Famously won the match in :25.5 seconds. Hunter would go on to later face Phillips in a rematch on a future episode of SmackDown! where he proceeded to defeat Phillips in just :23.4 seconds, beating his previous record by more than :02 seconds.
106	Booker T	3	October 18, 2005	35	Reno, NV	Friday Night SmackDown!	Aired October 21, 2005.
-	Vacated	-	November 22, 2005	0	Sheffield, England	Friday Night SmackDown!	Vacated when a title defense against Kevin Hunter ended in a double pinfall. Aired November 25, 2005.
107	Booker T	4	January 10, 2006	40	Philadelphia, PA	Friday Night SmackDown!	Booker faced Hunter in a Best of Seven series, winning the first three matches; Kevin McAlmond substituted for Booker after that due to injury, losing the next three matches but winning the final. Aired January 13, 2006.
108	Kevin Hunter	4	February 19, 2006	42	Baltimore, MD	No Way Out (2006)
109	John "Bradshaw" Layfield	1	April 2, 2006	51	Rosemont, IL	WrestleMania 22
110	Bobby Ashley	1	May 23, 2006	49	Bakersfield, CA	SmackDown!	Aired May 26, 2006.
111	Finlay	1	July 11, 2006	49	Minneapolis, MN	SmackDown!	Aired July 14, 2006.
112	Mr. Kennedy	1	August 29, 2006	42	Reading, PA	SmackDown!	This was a Triple Threat match also involving Bobby Ashley, which aired September 1, 2006.
113	Kevin Hunter	5	October 10, 2006	222	Jacksonville, FL	SmackDown!	Aired October 13, 2006.
114	Montel Vontavious Porter	1	May 20, 2007	343	St. Louis, MO	Judgment Day (2007)	This was a Two Out Of Three Falls match, which MVP won 2–0.
115	Matt Hooper	1	April 27, 2008	84	Baltimore, MD	Backlash (2008)	The title became an XCW exclusive title when Hooper was drafted to XCW on June 23, 2008.
116	Junior Remeriz	1	July 20, 2008	76	Uniondale, NY	The Great American Bash (2008)	The title was returned to SmackDown due to Remeriz's status as a SmackDown superstar.
117	Montel Vontavious Porter	2	March 17, 2009	76	Corpus Christi, TX	SmackDown!	Aired March 20, 2009. The title became a Raw exclusive title when MVP was drafted to Raw on April 13.
119	Kofi Kinston	1	June 1, 2009	126	Birmingham, AL	Raw
119	The Miz	1	October 5, 2010	224	Wilkes-Barre, PA	Raw
120	Bret Heart	5	May 17, 2010	7	Toronto, ON	Raw	This was a no disqualification, no count out match.
-	Vacated	-	May 24, 2010	0	Toledo, OH	Raw	Vacated when Bret Heart became General Manager of Raw.
121	B-Truth	1		21			Defeated The Miz to win the vacant title.
122	The Miz	2	June 14, 2010	97	Charlotte, NC	Raw	This was a Fatal Four Way match also involving Joe Linderman and Zack Nuss.
123	Kody Brown	1	September 19, 2010	176	Rosemont, IL	Night of Champions (2010)
124	Sheamus	1	March 14, 2011	48	St. Louis, MO	Raw	Title becomes exclusive to SmackDown! once again when Garrett is drafted to SmackDown! via the Supplemental Draft on April 26, 2011.
125	Kofi Kingston	2	May 1, 2011	49	Tampa, FL	Extreme Rules (2011)	This was a Tables match. Title becomes exclusive to RAW once again due to Serrano's status as a RAW Superstar.
126	Dolph Ziggler	1	June 18, 2011	183	Washington, D.C.	Capitol Punishment 2011
127	Zack Ryder	1	December 18, 2011	30	Baltimore, Maryland	TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2011)
128	Jack Wilson	1	January 16, 2012	49	Anaheim, California	Raw
129	Santino Marella	1	March 5, 2012	167	Boston, MA	Raw
130	Antonio Cesaro	1	August 19, 2012	239	Los Angeles, CA	SummerSlam	Match aired live on YouTube and IWE.com as part of the SummerSlam pre-show.
131	Kofi Kingston	3	April 15, 2013	35	Greensville, SC	Raw
132	Dean Ambrose	1	May 19, 2013	351	St. Louis, MO	Extreme Rules
133	Sheamus	1	May 5, 2014	182+	Albany, NY	Raw
134	Rusev	1	November 3, 2014	41+	Buffalo, NY	Raw	This match happened on Raw Backstage Pass

^†There are no records of the day the reign ended, only the month so the first day of the month is counted.

List of top combined reigns