WWE Universal Championship

= WWE Universal Championship =
The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, currently defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two world titles for WWE's main roster, alongside the WWE Championship on Raw. The current champion is Roman Reigns.
WWE Universal Championship	WWE Universal Championship 	 	
The current Universal Championship belt with default side plates
(2019–present)	The current Universal Championship belt with default side plates
(2019–present)	 	
Details 	Details 	 	
Promotion 	WWE 	 	
Brand 	SmackDown 	 	
Date established 	July 25, 2016 	 	
Current champion(s) 	Roman Reigns 	 	
Date won 	August 30, 2020 	 	
Other name(s) 	Other name(s) 	 	
* Undisputed WWE Universal Championship(2022–present)	
* Undisputed WWE Universal Championship(2022–present)	 	
{| class="wikitable" 	
{| class="wikitable" 	Statistics	Statistics
First champion(s) 	Finn Bálor 	 	
Most reigns 	Brock Lesnar(3 reigns) 	 	
Longest reign 	Roman Reigns 
(2nd reign, 704+ days)	 	
Shortest reign 	Finn Bálor(22 hours) 	 	
Oldest champion 	Goldberg(53 years, 62 days) 	 	
Youngest champion 	Kevin Owens(32 years, 114 days)	 	
Heaviest champion 	Braun Strowman(385 lb (175 kg))	 	
Lightest champion 	Finn Bálor(190 lb (86 kg)) 	 	
Named in honor of WWE's fans, referred to as the WWE Universe, the championship was established on July 25, 2016, to be the top title of the Raw brand. Its creation came as a result of the reintroduction of the brand split and subsequent draft on July 19, 2016, in which the WWE Championship, the promotion's original world title, became exclusive to SmackDown. The inaugural Universal Champion was Finn Bálor. Since its inception, matches for the championship have headlined several pay-per-view events, including six consecutive SummerSlams from 2017 to 2022, as well as WrestleMania 34,  37 Night 2, and 38 Night 2, both being two of WWE's "big five" pay-per-views, the latter of which is WWE's flagship event. Following the events of the 2019 Crown Jewel, the Universal and WWE Championship switched brands.
== History ==
The inaugural champion Finn Bálor, shown here with the original NXT Championship belt and him in his "Demon" persona, which he wrestled under to win the Universal Championship
In mid-2016, WWE reintroduced the brand extension in which the promotion split its main roster between the Rawand SmackDown brands, where wrestlers would exclusively perform (the previous brand extension ended in 2011). On July 19, 2016, SmackDown began broadcasting liveand on that premiere of SmackDown Live, the 2016 WWE Draft took place and reigning WWE Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown.At Battleground on July 24, Ambrose retained the title in a triple threat matchagainst Raw draftees Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, leaving Raw without a world championship. On the following episode of Raw, the brand's Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and General Manager Mick Foley created the WWE Universal Championship to serve as the brand's top championship. The title was named in honor of the WWE Universe, the name the promotion uses to refer to its fan base.
The inaugural champion was crowned at SummerSlam on August 21 in a pinfall and submission-only singles match. Seth Rollins was automatically set for that match as he was Raw's number one draft pick and was not pinned in the WWE Championship match at Battleground. His opponent was determined by two fatal four-way matches on Raw, with the winners wrestling each other in a singles match. Finn Bálor won the first fatal four-way by defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Rusev while Roman Reigns won the second by defeating Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Sheamus.Bálor then defeated Reigns and was added to the title match. At SummerSlam, Bálor, wrestling under his "Demon" persona, defeated Rollins to become the inaugural champion. Bálor was the first WWE wrestler to win a world title in his pay-per-view debut as well as winning his first world title in less than a month of his debut on WWE's main roster. During the championship match, Bálor suffered a legitimate shoulder injury and was forced to vacate the title the following day.
At Crown Jewel on October 31, 2019, SmackDown wrestler "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt won the Universal title by defeating Seth Rollins in a Falls Count Anywhere match that could not be stopped for any reason, thus transferring the Universal Championship to SmackDown. The WWE Championship was subsequently transferred to Raw after reigning champion Brock Lesnar quit SmackDown the following day, taking the title to Raw.
At WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, reigning Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Raw's WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match to claim both championships and become recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. WWE had billed the match as a championship unification match; however, both titles remain independently active with Reigns being a double champion.
== Brand designation ==
The following is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the WWE Universal Championship between the Raw and SmackDown brands.
Date of transition	Brand 	Notes
July 25, 2016 	Raw 	The championship was established for Raw after WWE Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown in the 2016 WWE Draft. Finn Bálorsubsequently became the inaugural Universal Champion at SummerSlam on August 21.
October 31, 2019 	SmackDown	The Universal Championship moved to SmackDown after "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, a member of the SmackDown brand, defeated Seth Rollins in a Falls Count Anywhere matchthat could not be stopped for any reason to win the Universal Championship.
== Championship belt design ==
The Universal Championship belt is similar in appearance to the WWE Championship belt (introduced in 2014), with a few notable differences. Like the WWE Championship belt, the center plate is a large cut out of the WWE logo with diamonds sitting inside an irregular heptagonal plate, but with the capital words "Universal Champion" in small print sitting underneath the logo. Just the same, there are gold divider bars that separate the center plate from its two side plates. Each side plate features the same default removable center section as the WWE Championship (the WWE logo over a red globe), which can be customized with the champion's logo. The most prominent difference is the belt's strap, the color of which indicates the brand it is exclusive to. When the belt was first unveiled at SummerSlam 2016, the strap was red to symbolize its exclusivity to the Raw brand, and the underline of the WWE logo on the center plate was black to make it visible (essentially the reverse of the WWE Championship belt). After the title became exclusive to SmackDown in late 2019, Bray Wyattintroduced a blue strap variation and the underline of the WWE logo was changed from black to red.
Two-time champion Bray Wyatt, shown here as "The Fiend," whose custom version of the Universal Championship belt was based on his mask
In addition to the SmackDown version of the belt, Wyatt also introduced a custom version of the championship for his "Fiend" character on the November 29 episode of SmackDown. The custom belt featured The Fiend's face in the place of the center plate. The character's phrases "Hurt" and "Heal" were written in red on black leather strips in the place of side plates while the strap of the belt itself was red and black worn leather with red stitching holding it together. The character's phrase "Let Me In" was also included. Wyatt used both the standard and custom versions of the championship; his cheery Firefly Fun House character held the standard blue belt, while his sinister Fiend character held the custom belt.
=== Reception ===
The Universal Championship design was heavily criticized. Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net referred to it as "a title belt that no one likes". Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports described it as "ugly" while the live SummerSlam audience in Brooklyn, New York gave derisive chants, including "This belt sucks", an assessment with which New England Sports Network reporters agreed. That site's Ricky Doyle wrote that the crowd response turned what should have been a "landmark moment for the company" into an "awkward experience". Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider felt the title looked like a "xerox" of the WWE Championship and did not blame the audience for reacting negatively. The design was also unpopular with online wrestling fans.
WWE employees responded in the aftermath of the title's debut. Seth Rollins chastised the SummerSlam crowd's reaction, writing on Twitter: "More important than a title's appearance is what it represents for the men fighting over it. You really let me down tonight, Brooklyn." While acknowledging that he himself might have chosen a different belt design, Mick Foley echoed Rollins's response in a lengthy Facebook post. He recalled being presented with the WWF Hardcore Championship, a title belt made of broken metal pieces held together by duct tape, which challengers "made ... mean something by busting [their] asses". In a kayfabe promo on the following episode of Raw, the then-villainous Rollins called the championship belt "beautiful".
Later in 2016, Jim Vorel of Paste ranked the title as the worst of nine then contested in WWE, noting its "obnoxious" design. On the other hand, Nick Schwartz of Fox Sportswrote: "It's really not as bad as fans made it seem at SummerSlam. It's fine."
== Reigns ==
Two-time and current champion Roman Reigns, shown here with the SmackDown version of the belt; his second reign is the longest reign for the championship at 704+ days and he also has the longest combined reign at 768+ days
As of February 19, 2022, there have been fourteen reigns between eight champions and two vacancies. Finn Bálor was the inaugural champion. Brock Lesnar holds the record for most reigns with three. Roman Reigns' ongoing second reign is the longest singular reign at 704+ days, while Bálor has the shortest reign at 22 hours as he was forced to vacate the title due to suffering a legitimate injury in winning it. Reigns also holds the record for longest combined reign at 768+ days. Kevin Owens is the youngest champion when he won it at 32 years, 114 days old, while Goldberg is the oldest when he won the title for a second time at 53.
Roman Reigns is the current champion in his second reign. He won the title by defeating previous champion "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, who Reigns pinned, in a No Holds Barred triple threat match at Payback on August 30, 2020, in Orlando, Florida.
Key
No. 	Overall reign number
Reign 	Reign number for the specific champion
Days 	Number of days held
Days recog.	Number of days held recognized by the promotion
<1 	Reign lasted less than a day
+ 	Current reign is changing daily
No. 	Champion 	Championship change 	Championship change 	Championship change 	Reign statistics	Reign statistics	Reign statistics	Notes 	Defenses 	Ref.
No. 	Champion 	Date 	Event 	Location 	Reign 	Days 	Days recog. 	Notes 	Defenses 	Ref.
WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw 	WWE: Raw
1 	Finn Bálor 	August 21, 2016 	SummerSlam 	Brooklyn, NY 	1 	1 	<1 	The title was established for Raw after the WWE Championship became exclusive to SmackDown following the 2016 WWE Draft. Bálor defeated Seth Rollins in a pinfall and submission-only match to become the inaugural champion. 	0 	
— 	Vacated 	August 22, 2016 	Raw 	Brooklyn, NY 	— 	— 	— 	Vacated due to Finn Bálor suffering a legit shoulder injury during his match at SummerSlam. 	— 	
2 	Kevin Owens 	August 29, 2016 	Raw 	Houston, TX 	1 	188 	188 	This was a fatal four-way elimination match for the vacant title also involving Big Cass, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins, who Owens last eliminated to win. 	3 	
3 	Goldberg 	March 5, 2017 	Fastlane 	Milwaukee, WI 	1 	28 	27 	 	2 	
4 	Brock Lesnar 	April 2, 2017 	WrestleMania 33 	Orlando, FL 	1 	504 	503 	 	9 	
5 	Roman Reigns 	August 19, 2018 	SummerSlam 	Brooklyn, NY 	1 	64 	63 	 	3 	
— 	Vacated 	October 22, 2018 	Raw 	Providence, RI 	— 	— 	— 	Vacated after Roman Reigns announced that he had a legitimate re-diagnosis of leukemia. 	— 	
6 	Brock Lesnar 	November 2, 2018 	Crown Jewel 	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	2 	156 	156 	Originally scheduled as a triple threat match in which Roman Reigns was to defend the title against Lesnar and Braun Strowman.After Reigns relinquished the championship, the match became a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the vacant title.	2 	
7 	Seth Rollins 	April 7, 2019 	WrestleMania 35 	East Rutherford, NJ 	1 	98 	98 	 	2 	
8 	Brock Lesnar 	July 14, 2019 	Extreme Rules 	Philadelphia, PA 	3 	28 	27 	Cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. 	1 	
9 	Seth Rollins 	August 11, 2019 	SummerSlam 	Toronto, ON, Canada 	2 	81 	81 	 	2 	
10 	"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt	October 31, 2019 	Crown Jewel 	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	1 	119 	119 	This was a Falls Count Anywhere match that could not be stopped for any reason.
The title became exclusive to the SmackDown brand due to Wyatt's status as a SmackDown wrestler. 	2 	
WWE: SmackDown	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown 	WWE: SmackDown	WWE: SmackDown
11 	Goldberg 	February 27, 2020 	Super ShowDown 	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	2 	27 or 28 	37 	WWE recognizes this reign as ending on April 4, 2020, when the following match aired on tape delay. 	1 	
12 	Braun Strowman 	March 25 or 26, 2020	WrestleMania 36Part 1	Orlando, FL 	1 	150 or 151 	141 	WrestleMania was taped on March 25 and 26, but it is currently unknown which day this match was taped. WWE recognizes this reign as beginning on April 4, 2020, when the match aired on tape delay. 	2 	
13 	"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt	August 23, 2020 	SummerSlam 	Orlando, FL 	2 	7 	6 	This was a Falls Count Anywhere match. 	0 	
14 	Roman Reigns 	August 30, 2020 	Payback 	Orlando, FL 	2 	538+ 	538+ 	This was a No Holds Barredtriple threat match also involving Braun Strowman, who Reigns pinned. 	8 	
== Combined reigns ==
Record-setting three-time champion Brock Lesnar, shown here with the Raw version of the championship belt
As of February 19, 2022
†	Indicates the current champion
¤	The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest length is considered.
Rank	Wrestler 	No. of
reigns	Combined
days	Combined days
rec. by WWE	Combined Defenses
1 	Roman Reigns † 	2	602+	601 +	10
2 	Brock Lesnar 	3	688 	686 	12
3 	Kevin Owens 	1	188 	188 	3
4 	Seth Rollins 	2	179 	179 	2
5 	Braun Strowman 	1	¤150	141 	2
6 	"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt	2	126 	125 	2
7 	Goldberg 	2	¤55 	64 	2
8 	Finn Bálor 	1	1 	<1 	0
== Notes ==
# ^ In tandem with the WWE Championship.
== See also ==
* World championships in WWE
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== External links ==
*
*, who is in his second reign, which is the longest reign for the title. Reigns is recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion as he concurrently holds both the WWE Championship and Universal Championship