The United States Championship has once again been relegated to second-tier status by the WWE.
That’s not the fault Kalisto, the current U.S. Champ, it’s just the way the WWE has always treated the belt.
It’s doubtful that anyone would even know that Kalisto has been champs for 91 days and counting. There’s no fanfare for a title that is repeatedly shoved to the bottom of the card.
The only time that wasn’t the case was when John Cena held the belt just a few short months ago and lifted belt’s status with his “U.S. Open Challenge” on Raw every week.
There really hasn’t been anything notable about Kalisto’s run with the belt thus far. That’s been the problem with wrestlers holding the belt who aren’t named John Cena.
It seems that the WWE just forgets that the United States title is actually a current and active belt that needs air time.
Just take a look at what happened with the belt at WrestleMania 32. Kalisto successfully defended the title against Ryback to open the show in a nearly empty AT&T Stadium.
The match itself wasn’t that remarkable and the fact that it started off the preshow demonstrates where the WWE sees how unimportant the title actually is.
WWE’s next pay-per-view Payback is a week away and there is currently no match scheduled for the U.S. championship. It’s hard to fathom why anyone would even care about the belt since the WWE doesn’t even put anytime in promoting it.
One common solution to make the United States belt matter again is to unify it with the Intercontinental championship.
Honestly, I’m against combining these two championships together because that would bring down the total number of men’s single title to just two. Not every wrestler needs a belt but having just two male single titles seems off.
The easiest and simplest solution for the WWE is actually putting some effort in making the United States belt matter. All the company needs to do is put Kalisto in matches where he defends his title.
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WWE wonders why fans don’t care who has the U.S. title and it’s because they never give a reason to in the first place. It’s a shame that Kalisto’s run will be an unremarkable one just because WWE refuses to give him any air time at all.
Maybe the United States title should be defended every Raw to keep the interest in the title up. That would be a lot better than where it currently stands.
The WWE just needs to put some time and effort into a belt that has always been treated as a forgotten stepchild.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
