WWE Universal Championship

The WWE Universal Championship was a professional wrestling world championship in WWE, which was created in 2016. From 2023 to 2024, it was defended together with the WWE Championship as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The first champion was Finn Bálor, while the last recognized champion was Roman Reigns, who held the title for more than one thousand days.

 History 

 Creation 
With the return of the WWE Brand Extension in the middle of 2016, a draft took place on July 19. WWE Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown. And as a result, Raw was left without a world title. On the July 25, 2016 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon and the general manager Mick Foley created the WWE Universal Championship to be the world title of the program. The first champion was determined at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016. Finn Bálor beat Seth Rollins to win the title. He gave up the title the following day because he was injured during the match.

In October 2019, the title was moved to SmackDown after "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, who was on SmackDown at that time, won the title from Raw's Seth Rollins.

 Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and retirement 
At WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match to win both championships and become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. WWE called the match a championship unification match; however, both titles's histories are still seperately active with Reigns being a double champion, defending both titles together across both brands as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. On the April 24, 2023, episode of Raw, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H announced that regardless of what brand Reigns was drafted to in the 2023 WWE Draft, he and his undisputed championship would become exclusive to that brand. Triple H then presented a new World Heavyweight Championship for the other brand, which was won by Seth "Freakin" Rollins at Night of Champions. Reigns was drafted to SmackDown and the World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw. On the June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown, Triple H gave Reigns a new singular championship belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Despite this, Reigns' manager Paul Heyman continued to carry the old WWE and Universal Championship belts until the end of July. After Cody Rhodes won the championships from Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024, the championship was retired.

 Reigns 
Reign The reign number for the specific champion listedLocationThe city in which the title was wonEventThe event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was wonDays recog.Number of days held as listed by the promotion†Championship change is not listed by the promotion<1Reign was shorter than a day
+Wrestler ReignDateDays heldDays recog.LocationEventNotes1Finn Bálor1<New York, NYSummerSlamBeat Seth Rollins in a pinfall and submission-only match to become the first champion.Vacated——New York, NYRawVacated after Finn Bálor got a shoulder injury during the match at SummerSlam.2Kevin Owens1Houston, TXRawThis was a elimination match, also involving Big Cass, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.3Goldberg127Milwaukee, WIFastlane4Brock Lesnar1504503Orlando, FLWrestleMania 335Roman Reigns1August 19, 20186463Brooklyn, NYSummerSlamVacated —October 22, 2018 —Providence, RIRawVacated after Roman Reigns got leukemia.6Brock Lesnar2November 2, 2018156Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaCrown JewelBeat Braun Strowman to win the vacant title.7Seth Rollins1April 7, 201998East Rutherford, NJWrestleMania 358Brock Lesnar3July 14, 20192827Pittsburgh, PAExtreme RulesCashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Seth Rollins9Seth Rollins2August 11, 20198180Toronto, CanadaSummerSlam10The Fiend (Bray Wyatt)1October 31, 2019119118Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaCrown JewelThis was a Falls Count Anywhere match that could not be stopped for any reason.The title became exclusive to the SmackDown brand because of Wyatt's status as a SmackDown wrestler.11Goldberg2February 27, 202027–2837Super Show-DownWWE lists the end of Goldberg's reign on April 3, 2020, when the match aired on tape delay.12Braun Strowman1March 25 or 26, 2020150–151141Orlando, FLWrestleMania 36WWE lists the start of Strowman's reign on April 3, 2020, when the match aired on tape delay13The Fiend (Bray Wyatt)2August 23, 202076SummerSlam14Roman Reigns2August 30, 2020PaybackThis was a triple threat match, also involving Braun Strowman. 
At WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, Reigns defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to win the title. Both championships together began being called "Undisputed WWE Universal Championship".

This is the fifth-longest world championship reign in WWE history, and the longest reign for any WWE championship since 1988.†Cody Rhodes—April 7, 2024378—Philadelphia, PAWrestleMania XLThis was a Bloodline Rules match in which Reigns also defended the WWE Championship. Rhodes won the title as a member of the Raw brand and was then drafted to SmackDown.

The official title history originally listed Rhodes as champion until Rhodes lost the title at WrestleMania 41 the following year.—Deactivated—April 7, 2024—The Universal Championship was retired and the WWE Championship was continued instead. Cody Rhodes was not listed as champion anymore, as Roman Reigns is now listed as the last champion instead.

 Combined reigns 
¤The exact length of at least one title reign is unknown, so the shortest length is listed.<1Reign was shorter than a day
RankWrestlerNo. ofreignsCombineddaysCombined daysrec. by WWE1 2  1,380  1,3792  3  688  686—  1  378  —3  1 1884  2  179  1785  1 ¤150  1416   2  126  1247  2 ¤55  648 1 1<1

 Footnotes 

 References 

 Other websites 



Category:World Wrestling Entertainment championships
Category:WWE Raw