WWE US Title: Why Is It Still Around If They're Treating It as a Jobber Belt?

Question of the day: Which WWE star currently holds the United States Championship? 

Whenever I watch Raw or SmackDown, I legitimately have to stop, think and ask myself this very same question because the WWE does an absolutely horrendous job of reminding us that the answer is Santino Marella. 

It’s no secret that midcard titles don’t mean anywhere near what they once did, but Santino’s—to put it mildly—very lackluster reign as the US Champion has destroyed the prestige of the title. 

Santino’s 120-plus-day run as US Champion has been incredibly misleading because, at least on paper, a reign of that length looks pretty good. But if you’ve actually paid attention to it, it’s been atrocious. 

The United States Championship has gone from a coveted belt to one in which its champion is a comedic jobber. 

During his title reign, Santino has jobbed countless times and lost just as many mediocre and meaningless matches, including two pathetic squash losses against Alberto Del Rio that each lasted less than a minute. 

I get that Santino is a comedy character, but that’s where the problem lies. 

Putting the United States title on someone like him makes it somehow mean even less than it has in recent memory, which is extremely hard to do. 

The United States Championship has changed hands three times since Dec. 18, 2011. As if having that many title reigns in such a short span wasn’t bad enough, the “quality” of those reigns has made matters even worse. 

Zack Ryder held the title for just 29 days in one of the worst US title reigns in recent memory, Jack Swagger had an equally forgettable 49-day reign and Santino’s current 120-plus-day reign has seen the title be all but forgotten about. 

And the more I see the prestige of the United States Championship just dwindle away, the more I wonder why it’s even around. 

Apparently, I’m not the only one thinking that, either, as there have reportedly been discussions about unifying the US and Intercontinental titles. 

This is a solution that would make a lot of sense with the way that the WWE is currently situated. 

The roster is pretty thin, the midcard is nearly nonexistent and neither midcard title has been particularly important recently. 

But even though those discussions have taken place, the United States title is still around. And it’s still around for a reason. 

While the US Championship picture is awful at the moment, there are times when the title has been an incredibly coveted one that’s led to great matches and feuds. 

When I think of the high points of the US title (in recent WWE history, that is), I look back to the great feud between Chris Benoit and MVP, the Bragging Rights 2010 match between Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan or MVP’s nearly year-long reign as champion. 

These are all examples of what the US title can mean. These are all examples of why I think the belt is even still around. 

To put it quite simply, the belt may not matter much today. But it can—and often does—matter at times. 

I look back to the most recent example of this in 2011, when Ziggler and Ryder engaged in what was probably the best United States Championship rivalry since MVP vs. Matt Hardy back in 2008. 

While I won’t pretend like the belt was booked perfectly during the feud between Ziggler and Ryder, there was something that we could take out of that rivalry: The United States Championship was important. 

It was important because Ziggler did his best to hold onto it and bring back some of its prestige, and it was important because Ryder wanted it so badly that he actually started a petition to get himself a shot at it. 

All it took was a little good booking from the creative team, and we got ourselves a great Ryder/Ziggler rivalry that lasted for roughly four months with the United States title as it centerpiece. 

This was, believe it or not, one of my favorite feuds of 2011 because it showed that in a time where most wrestling fans can see that midcard titles don’t mean much, the United States Championship actually did. 

Ryder worked his tail off, climbed, scratched and clawed his way to get a shot at Ziggler’s title, and after a lengthy chase, he finally toppled the champion at WWE TLC last December. 

Now, whenever I ask myself why the United States is still even around, this is the feud I look back to. 

It was far from perfect, and Ryder’s rise to the top of the midcard was only short-lived. 

But seeing a midcard rivalry that actually matters was something that was wonderful to witness, and it was all made possible because of the United States title. 

Take that belt away, and what you’re really taking away is an opportunity—an opportunity for up-and-comers to put on a good feud with good matches that tell a good story. 

I know that may not have happened much recently, but take away the US Championship and it’ll never happen again.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.