The Last 10 WCW United States Champions, Ranked From Worst To Best

The United States Championship is the only title from WCW that WWE has kept around as a legacy title and continues to use to this day. It joined the Intercontinental Championship as the two longest-running titles outside of the company's main WWE Championship, its legacy stretching back to the 1970s.

The title has an impressive lineage, with names like Harley Race, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Magnum T.A., and more holding the title and defending it with honor in the NWA and then WCW. However, the final couple of years of its existence in WCW was often full of short-lived reigns that did little to add to its prestige.

10 Terry Funk

Terry Funk has an interesting notation when it comes to his WCW United States Championship reign in 2000. WCW did not recognize the title change, but WWE does. This happened at a house show in Amarillo, Texas, where Funk beat Lance Storm for the title. The next night, at another house show in Lubbock, Texas, Storm won the title back. The fact that Funk never made it to a TV show with the title makes him the bottom of the list for the last 10 WCW U.S. Champs.

9 Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit ranks low out of the final 10 WCW U.S. Champions for one significant reason. He did not win the title. He was awarded the title at Starrcade 1999 by forfeit because he was supposed to fight Scott Hall, who had to pull out with an injury. He then issued an open challenge, which Jeff Jarrett answered for a ladder match, and Benoit won the match. One night later, on Nitro, Jarrett won an immediate rematch, and Benoit had a one-day title reign.

8 Rick Steiner

"The Dog-Faced Gremlin" Rick Steiner had a decent title run with the United States Championship in 2001, but he was past his prime, and this was in the late days of WCW. Steiner won the title from Shane Douglas on the Feb. 5, 2001, episode of Nitro. Shane had a cast on his hand, and Steiner won easily. Rick then held the title for 41 days before losing it to Booker T at Greed 2001. Steiner did nothing of note during his run.

7 Hugh Morris

Hugh Morris might end up being most known for WWE firing him after several students he trained complained about alleged abuse at his hands. His second most famous Hugh Morris moment likely came when he changed his name to Huge G. Rection and joined The Filthy Animals.

It was while he was General Rection that he won the WCW United States Title twice. While two title reigns are impressive, the first was only for 15 days, and the second lasted 49.

6 Scott Hall

The legendary Scott Hall was always the nWo guy who was the mid-card or tag team champion, and he never reached the level of the top guy in the company. The United States Championship was always the ceiling for Hall's WCW singles' career, and he held the title twice. His second title reign was 41 days after he won the belt in a four-way ladder match over former champion Bret Hart and challengers Sid Vicious and Goldberg. He had to relinquish the title due to a knee injury.

5 Shane Douglas

When Shane Douglas was in ECW, he was the top guy in the company, holding the world title longer than anyone in company history. When Douglas signed with WCW, many fans thought he would get a similar run, but it never happened. Douglas topped out with the United States Championship, which he only held one time. Douglas beat General Rection at Sin 2001 in a First Blood Chain Match and held it for 22 days before losing to Rick Steiner due to a hand injury.

4 Scott Steiner

No one rose faster up the ranks than Scott Steiner after Vince Russo showed up. Already known as one of the best tag team wrestlers in the world with his brother Rick, Steiner was earmarked for the world title by Russo. His first step was the U.S. Championship.

Steiner's first US Title win happened at the 1999 edition of Spring Stampede when he defeated Booker T in the tournament finals and held onto the gold for 85 days. A year later, Steiner received his second US Title reign at Spring Stampede when he won a tournament, beating Sting in the finals for the title. Steiner then held the title for 84 days before WCW stripped him of the title for using a banned move.

3 Jeff Jarrett

"The Chosen One" Jeff Jarrett was another guy that Vince Russo wanted to be a world champion in WCW, and he got that chance. However, he started out fighting for the United States Championship and held it three times in his career. Two of those reigns came in 1999 and 2000.

Jarrett beat Chris Benoit for the title on Nitro in a ladder match and had to vacate it due to an injury. He got the title back from commissioner Kevin Nash and held it until Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff stripped all champions of titles in a WCW reboot. Jarrett had two reigns and never lost it.

2 Booker T

Booker T had the longest title reigns of any of the last 10 U.S. Champions in WCW. His only reign with the title happened shortly before WCW shut down and the belt moved to WWE. Booker T won the title at Greed 2001 when he beat Rick Steiner for the belt thanks to Shane Douglas interfering. On WCW Nitro's final night, Booker T won the WCW World Championship, and he held both titles at the start of the Invasion angle.

1 Lance Storm

While he didn't hold the title as long as Booker T, Lance Storm was a three-time champion in 2000 and had the best storyline of any of the final 10 U.S. Champions in WCW. He had a faction that was pro-Canada and anti-United States and started collecting titles. Storm won the U.S., TV, and Cruiserweight titles and ended up giving his faction members the TV (Jim Duggan) and Cruiserweight (Elix Skipper) and kept the U.S. Title for himself.

His first reign was in a tournament where he beat Mike Awesome. He lost and won back the title on back-to-back nights at house shows to Terry Funk. Finally, he lost the title to Gen. Rection before winning it back and losing it again. His total reigns combined for 115 days.

NEXT: 10 Former United States Champions With The Most World Title Reigns