John Cena Should Retire the U.S. Championship if he Defeats Rusev at WrestleMania 31

If John Cena is the one to beat Rusev, he should also be the one to retire the United States Championship.

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The United States Championship used to be a prestigious title to own in WWE. It was held by all-time greats like Harley Race, Ric Flair and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. The belt was also an important part of SmackDown for the majority of the brand split. However, ever since the Raw and SmackDown rosters combined, the belt has faded into the background.

Rusev is the owner of the United States Championship and has still not been pinned or submitted. He will face his toughest challenge since arriving on the main roster in John Cena this Sunday at WWE Fastlane. However, any finish is likely going to be saved for a match at WrestleMania 31. If Cena is indeed the man to defeat Rusev at the show of shows, he should be the one to retire the U.S. Championship.

For awhile now, the U.S. Championship has seemed destined to be unified with the Intercontinetal Championship or retired like so many other titles have been (e.g. WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship in 2013). The belt has hardly been defended for a few years due to story lines purposes or Creative not caring enough.

Rusev is the owner of the U.S. Championship. He defeated Sheamus for it back in November for a special match on the WWE Network. The Bulgarian Brute has only defended the belt once against Jack Swagger. He was involved in a program with Ryback, but that ended up just being a TV feud. You almost forget at times that Rusev even holds the belt.

Last year, WWE called on Cena to end the dominant reign of young Superstar Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 30. It hurt The Eater of Worlds’ momentum for a long time, but he finally recovered by the end of 2014. The decision for Cena, the face of WWE and Vince McMahon’s favorite, may be for him to end the reign of another young star in Rusev.

If this happens, do you really think that WWE is going to have Cena defend a championship that he was battling for over a decade ago during his rise to the top of the roster?

Cena is still the top guy in WWE in the eyes of management and plenty of fans. He will be gunning for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at least one more time before he retires to retain his spot at the head of the food chain. For him to continue to defend the U.S. Championship while still being the top guy in the company wouldn’t make a ton of sense. It would bring up the value of the championship, but we know that WWE does not value it that much.

While taking away this championship would remove a possible feud at every PPV, it was a title that was falling way behind the Intercontinental Championship, which always had a place on the card. So many times before we’ve seen the U.S. title left off a big show or the title holder taking numerous losses, so it’s not like this would be a noticeable missing piece to WWE shows.

The end of the United States Championship may be imminent if it goes into the hands of John Cena. Will anyone notice if the belt is gone? Probably not.

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