time, leaving the Mid-Atlantic version as the only remaining United States Championship. The title remained the primary championship within the Mid-Atlantic territory until 1986 when Crockett gained control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The United States title then became the secondary championship of the promotion. After Ted Turner bought the company and renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in November 1988, the title continued to be used and recognized as secondary to the World Championship. WCW began to pull itself away from the NWA, demonstrated by the company changing the name of the title to the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in January 1991. On the April 6, 1991, episode of World Championship Wrestling, Nikita Koloff destroyed the classic 1980s United States Heavyweight Championship belt during a post-match brawl with Lex Luger, who was in his fourth reign as champion. Koloff, who claimed to be the true champion, knocked Luger unconscious by striking him with the title belt and then repeatedly smashed the championship belt into a ringpost. Luger would appear without a physical championship belt, and later became the first to wear a newly designed belt, which was used up through WCW's closing in March 2001, after being purchased by rival promotion, the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2000, Lance Storm won the title and unofficially renamed it as the Canadian Heavyweight Championship, complete with large Canadian flag stickers that covered the belt's faceplates. When WWF purchased WCW, they used the United States title during the WWF's Invasion storyline. The title was deactivated after being unified with the then-WWF Intercontinental Championship at that year's Survivor Series, when United States Champion Edge defeated Intercontinental Champion Test, becoming the new Intercontinental Champion. In July 2003, a year after the first brand extension went into effect in the promotion renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the title was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by then-SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon and with a completely new belt design. It was commissioned to be a secondary championship for the SmackDown! brand, making the championship the only one from WCW to be reactivated as a WWE title (although the WCW Cruiserweight Championship had also become a WWE title, it was not deactivated and reactivated; it replaced the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship during the Invasion storyline). Eddie Guerrero became the first champion after its reactivation by winning a tournament at that year's Vengeance, defeating Chris