WWE Universal Championship
The WWE Universal Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in WWE for the men of the SmackDown brand. It is one of three world championships in WWE, along with the WWE Championship (with which it is currently defended together as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship) and the World Heavyweight Championship from the Raw brand. The current champion is Roman Reigns, who is in his second reign for more than one thousand days.
History
Creation
With the return of the WWE Brand Extension in the middle of 2016,[1][2] a draft took place in July 19. The WWE Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown. And as a result, Raw was left without a world title.[3] 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.[4] The first champion was determined at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016. Finn Bálor beat Seth Rollins to win the title.[5]
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
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 prsented 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 with 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.
Title history
Reigns
| Reign | The reign number for the specific champion listed |
|---|---|
| Location | The city in which the title was won |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won |
| + | Indicates the current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Wrestler | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finn Bálor | 1 | August 21, 2016 | <1 | New York, NY | SummerSlam | Beat Seth Rollins in a pinfall and submission-only match to become the first champion. |
| — | Vacated | — | August 22, 2016 | — | New York, NY | Raw | Vacated after Finn Bálor got a shoulder injury during the match at SummerSlam. |
| 2 | Kevin Owens | 1 | August 29, 2016 | 188 | Houston, TX | Raw | This was a four-way elimination match, also involving Big Cass, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. |
| 3 | Goldberg | 1 | March 5, 2017 | 28 | Milwaukee, WI | Fastlane | |
| 4 | Brock Lesnar | 1 | April 2, 2017 | 504 | Orlando, FL | WrestleMania 33 | |
| 5 | Roman Reigns | 1 | August 19, 2018 | 64 | Brooklyn, NY | SummerSlam | |
| — | Vacated | — | October 22, 2018 | — | Providence, RI | Raw | Vacated after Roman Reigns got leukemia. |
| 6 | Brock Lesnar | 2 | November 2, 2018 | 156 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Crown Jewel | Beat Braun Strowman to win the vacant title. |
| 7 | Seth Rollins | 1 | April 7, 2019 | 98 | East Rutherford, NJ | WrestleMania 35 | |
| 8 | Brock Lesnar | 3 | July 14, 2019 | 28 | Pittsburgh, PA | Extreme Rules | Cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Seth Rollins |
| 9 | Seth Rollins | 2 | August 11, 2019 | 80 | Toronto, Canada | SummerSlam | |
| 10 | The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) | 1 | October 31, 2019 | 118 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Crown Jewel | |
| 11 | Goldberg | 2 | February 27, 2020 | 37 | Super Show-Down | ||
| 12 | Braun Strowman | 1 | April 3, 2020 | 141 | Orlando, FL | WrestleMania 36 | |
| 13 | The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) | 2 | August 23rd, 2020 | 6 | SummerSlam | ||
| 14 | Roman Reigns | 2 | August 30, 2020 | Error in Template:Nts: Fractions are not supported+ | Payback | This was a triple threat match, also involving Braun Strowman.
This is the fifth-longest world championship reign in WWE history, and the longest reign for any WWE championship since 1988. |
Combined reigns
As of December 25, 2024.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roman Reigns † | 2 | 1,642+ |
| 2 | Brock Lesnar | 3 | 688 |
| 3 | Kevin Owens | 1 | 188 |
| 4 | Seth Rollins | 2 | 179 |
| 5 | Braun Strowman | 1 | 150 |
| 6 | The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) | 2 | 126 |
| 7 | Goldberg | 2 | 55 |
| 8 | Finn Bálor | 1 | <1 |
WWE Universal Championship Media
The inaugural WWE Universal Champion Finn Bálor at WrestleMania 34.
Two-time champion Roman Reigns in his first reign with the original Raw version of the championship belt used from 2016 to 2019
Two-time champion Bray Wyatt, shown here as "The Fiend", whose custom version of the Universal Championship belt was based on his mask
Two-time and current champion Roman Reigns with the SmackDown version of the championship belt; his second reign at 1,578+ days is the longest reign of any WWE championship since 1988.
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References
- ↑ Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (Exclusive)". Variety. https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/wwe-smackdown-live-usa-1201782569/. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
- ↑ "WWE's destiny to be determined during SmackDown's Live premiere". WWE. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
- ↑ "2016 WWE Draft results: WWE officially ushers in New Era". WWE. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
- ↑ Tedesco, Mike (July 25, 2016). "WWE RAW Results – 7/25/16 (Live from Pittsburgh, fallout from Battleground, new era of RAW begins)". Wrestleview. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
- ↑ Laboon, Jeff. "Finn Bálor def. Seth Rollins". WWE. Retrieved August 21, 2016.