text: The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested in the American promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It was originally known as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship and began as a regional championship created by and defended in Jim Crockett Jr.'s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Harley Race became the inaugural champion on the title's introduction on January 1, 1975. Turner Broadcasting bought Mid-Atlantic in November 1988 and renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after its primary television program.