The WHEI United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for the SmackDown brand. It is one of three secondary championships for WHEI's roster. Alongside the WHEI Intercontinental Championship on the Raw brand, and the LWL Zodiac Championship on the LWL brand. The current champion is Cody Rhodes who is in his second reign as champion.
The title was created in season one to be the secondary title for the SmackDown brand and compliment the Intercontinental and Zodiac titles. Like its contemporaries it is generally contested in the mid card of shows. Unlike the Intercontinental title however, it has yet to main event a show. Despite being the third oldest title in the company.
In real life when the brand split was reintroduced the IC and US titles were on the opposite brand they were in the War Hawks universe mode. Despite this they did not change the titles to reflect this, though this is no longer necessary as the titles have since switched brands.
Origin
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The title was brought to the SmackDown brand during the season one draft as Ironman liked the title and wanted it on his show. Since the inception of the WHEI Universe Mode the title has been the secondary title for the SmackDown brand throughout the entire run. Never once changing brands despite the title doing so several times in real life.
Championship belt design
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Despite Ironman feeling more affinity for the WCW version of the title, feeling that it didn't smack you in the face about the fact it was a United States title, Ironman opted to keep the current version of the title when he brought it to his show. The title looks like, as Ironman would describe it, a smaller version of the Big Gold belt, but instead of being gold, it has the US flag on it. The plate across the front that has "United States Champion" on it in reasonably sized font is perfect, as it already screams "THIS IS A BELT FOR THE UNITED STATES".
Unlike the world titles, this championship has a nameplate as opposed to the customizable side plates of those titles. The side plates themselves feature the statue of liberty on the outer plate, with a giant eagle on the innner plate. The strap is the standard black color.
Reigns
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No. | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Event | Notes |
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1. | Kevin Owens | 1 | December 22, 2015 | Season One Draft | Awarded the title to be the default champion heading into season one.
Drafted to SmackDown during the season one draft, taking the title with him. |
2. | Bret Hart | 5 | February 7, 2016 | Judgement Day | Won the title from Owens in a Triple Threat Match also involving Daniel Bryan |
3. | James Ceno | 1 | SmackDown | Defeated Hart on an episode of SmackDown. | |
4. | Hazmat | 1 | July 1, 2016 | Fastlane | Final champion of season 1 |
5. | Baron Corbin | 1 | May 26, 2017 | Season Two Draft | Awarded the title to be the default champion of season two and kept it for the entire season |
6. | Roderick Strong | 1 | April 10, 2018 | Season Three Premire | Awarded the title to be the default champion of season three |
7. | Big E | 1 | August 3, 2018 | SmackDown | Defeated Strong on the first episode of season three, was drafted to SmackDown with the rest of New Day during the draft. |
8. | Cody Rhodes | 1 | September 30, 2018 | No Mercy | Defeated Big E with the Young Bucks in his corner and New Day banned from ringside. |
9 | Braun Strowman | 1 | October 8, 2018 | SmackDown Live | Answered an open challenge from Rhodes to win the title |
10 | Cody Rhodes | 2 | February 3, 2019 | TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs | Defeated Strowman in a Chairs Match to win the title. |