WWE Universal Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||||
Brand | SmackDown | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | July 25, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Cody Rhodes | ||||||||||||||||||
Date won | April 7, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
|
The WWE Universal Championship is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown brand division. Since April 2022, the title has been jointly held and defended with the WWE Championship as the Undisputed WWE Championship, but both titles have maintained their individual lineages. It is one of three world titles in WWE, alongside its companion WWE Championship on SmackDown, and the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw. The current champion is Cody Rhodes, who is in his first reign. He won the undisputed championship by defeating previous champion Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024.
Named in honor of WWE's fanbase, referred to as the WWE Universe, the championship was established on July 25, 2016, to be the top title of the Raw brand at the time. 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 and livestreaming events, including eight consecutive SummerSlams from 2017 to 2024, as well as five WrestleManias (34, 37 Night 2, 38 Night 2, 39 Night 2, and XL 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 title moved to SmackDown.
In mid-2016, the professional wrestling promotion WWE reintroduced the brand extension in which the promotion split its main roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands, where wrestlers would exclusively perform on each brands' respective weekly television program (the original brand split ended in August 2011). [1] [2] On July 19, 2016, to coincide with SmackDown shifting to a live broadcast format, the 2016 WWE Draft took place. During the draft, Dean Ambrose, who held the promotion's original world championship, the WWE Championship, was drafted to SmackDown. [3] At Battleground on July 24, Ambrose retained the title in a triple threat match against Raw draftees Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, [4] thus leaving Raw without a world title. [5] On the following episode of Raw , the brand's Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and General Manager Mick Foley established 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. [6]
The inaugural champion was crowned at SummerSlam on August 21 in a pinfall and submission-only singles match. 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. [6] Finn Bálor won the first fatal four-way by defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Rusev, while Reigns won the second by defeating Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Sheamus. [6] Bálor then defeated Reigns and was added to the title match. [7] 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. [8] [9] During the championship match, however, Bálor suffered a legitimate shoulder injury and was forced to vacate the title the following day. [10] [11]
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. [12] The WWE Championship was subsequently transferred to Raw after reigning champion Brock Lesnar quit SmackDown the following day, taking the title to Raw. [13]
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 have remained independently active with Reigns being a double champion, defending both titles together across both brands as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. [14] 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 subsequently unveiled a new World Heavyweight Championship for the opposing brand, which was won by Seth "Freakin" Rollins at Night of Champions. [15] [16] As Reigns was drafted to SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw. [17] On the June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown, Triple H presented Reigns with a new singular championship belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. [18] Amidst confusion of the lineages, Fightful reported that WWE confirmed to them that the two championships are still in fact separate lineages despite there being only one belt. [19]
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 Bálor subsequently 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 match that could not be stopped for any reason to win the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. |
The Universal Championship belt was based on the "Network Logo" design of the WWE Championship belt introduced in 2014, with a few notable differences. Like the WWE Championship belt, the center plate was 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 were gold divider bars that separated the center plate from its two side plates. Each side plate featured the same default removable center section as the WWE Championship (the WWE logo over a red globe), which could be customized with the champion's logo. [20] The most prominent difference was the belt's strap, the color of which indicated the brand it was 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). [20] After the title became exclusive to SmackDown in late 2019, Bray Wyatt introduced a blue strap variation and the underline of the WWE logo was changed from black to red. [21] [22]
In addition to the SmackDown version of the belt, Bray Wyatt also introduced a custom version of the championship for his "Fiend" character on the November 29 episode of SmackDown. [23] 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 during his first reign (2019–2020); his cheery Firefly Fun House character held the standard blue belt, while his sinister Fiend character held the custom belt. [24] [25]
After Roman Reigns became the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, both the Universal Championship and WWE Championship belts were used in tandem to represent the undisputed title, although both titles retained their individual lineages. On the June 2, 2023, episode of SmackDown, in celebration of Reigns reaching 1,000 days as Universal Champion, he was presented with a new single title belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. It features the same "Network Logo" design on a black strap, but the WWE logo is encrusted with black diamonds, it has a gold nugget-textured background behind the logo which was made as part of the metal plate instead of colored leather, and the text at the bottom of the plate says "Undisputed Champion"; the side plates remained the same. [18] Despite this, his manager Paul Heyman had continued to carry around the previous Universal and WWE Championship belts until the end of July. [26] On WWE's website, pictures of the previous title belts were still used for the individual title histories of each championship until April 2024 when the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship belt replaced the image for the WWE Championship; the Universal Championship title history remains a picture of the previous blue belt.
The original red Universal Championship design was heavily criticized. [27] Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net referred to it as "a title belt that no one likes". [28] Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports described it as "ugly" [29] while the live SummerSlam audience in Brooklyn, New York gave derisive chants, including "This belt sucks", [30] an assessment with which New England Sports Network reporters agreed. [31] 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". [32] 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. [33] The design was also unpopular with online wrestling fans. [30]
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". [32] 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". [34] In a kayfabe promo on the following episode of Raw, the then-villainous Rollins called the championship belt "beautiful". [28]
Later in 2016, Jim Vorel of Paste ranked the title as the worst of the nine then contested in WWE, noting its "obnoxious" design. [27] On the other hand, Nick Schwartz of Fox Sports wrote: "It's really not as bad as fans made it seem at SummerSlam. It's fine". [35]
As of December22, 2024, there have been fifteen reigns between nine champions and two vacancies. Finn Bálor was the inaugural champion. Brock Lesnar holds the record for most reigns at three. Roman Reigns' second reign is the longest singular reign at 1,316 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 1,380 days (1,379 days as recognized by WWE). 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.
Cody Rhodes is the current champion in his first reign. He won the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (Universal and WWE Championships) by defeating Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following his win, the undisputed title's name was truncated to Undisputed WWE Championship.
Name | Years |
---|---|
WWE Universal Championship | July 25, 2016 – present |
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship [c] | April 3, 2022 [14] – April 7, 2024 |
Undisputed WWE Championship [d] | April 7, 2024 – present |
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 | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | |||||
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. | [36] | |
— | Vacated | August 22, 2016 | Raw | Brooklyn, NY | — | — | — | Vacated due to Finn Bálor suffering a legit shoulder injury during his match at SummerSlam. | [10] [11] | |
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. | [37] | |
3 | Goldberg | March 5, 2017 | Fastlane | Milwaukee, WI | 1 | 28 | 27 | [38] | ||
4 | Brock Lesnar | April 2, 2017 | WrestleMania 33 | Orlando, FL | 1 | 504 | 503 | [39] | ||
5 | Roman Reigns | August 19, 2018 | SummerSlam | Brooklyn, NY | 1 | 64 | 63 | [40] | ||
— | Vacated | October 22, 2018 | Raw | Providence, RI | — | — | — | Vacated after Roman Reigns announced that he had a legitimate re-diagnosis of leukemia. | [41] [42] | |
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. [43] After Reigns relinquished the championship, the match became a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the vacant title. [42] | [44] | |
7 | Seth Rollins | April 7, 2019 | WrestleMania 35 | East Rutherford, NJ | 1 | 98 | 98 | [45] | ||
8 | Brock Lesnar | July 14, 2019 | Extreme Rules | Philadelphia, PA | 3 | 28 | 27 | This was Lesnar's Money in the Bank cash-in match. | [46] | |
9 | Seth Rollins | August 11, 2019 | SummerSlam | Toronto, ON, Canada | 2 | 81 | 80 | [47] | ||
10 | "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt | October 31, 2019 | Crown Jewel | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 1 | 119 | 118 | 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. | [48] | |
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. | [49] | |
12 | Braun Strowman | March 25 or 26, 2020 | WrestleMania 36 Part 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. [50] | [51] | |
13 | "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt | August 23, 2020 | SummerSlam | Orlando, FL | 2 | 7 | 6 | This was a Falls Count Anywhere match. | [52] | |
14 | Roman Reigns | August 30, 2020 | Payback | Orlando, FL | 2 | 1,316 | 1,316 | This was a No Holds Barred triple threat match also involving Braun Strowman, who Reigns pinned. At WrestleMania 38 on April 3, 2022, Reigns defeated Raw's WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match and became recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion of both brands. Despite the match being billed as a unification match, both titles remain independently active. In April 2023, after Reigns was drafted to SmackDown in the 2023 WWE Draft, a new World Heavyweight Championship was established for Raw as the counterpart to Reigns' Undisputed Championship. | [53] [14] | |
15 | Cody Rhodes | April 7, 2024 | WrestleMania XL Night 2 | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 259+ | 259+ | This 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 subsequently transferred to SmackDown. The undisputed title's name was also truncated to Undisputed WWE Championship. | [54] |
As of December22, 2024.
† | Indicates the current champion |
---|---|
¤ | The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest length is considered. |
<1 | Reign was less than a day |
Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days | Combined days rec. by WWE |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Roman Reigns | 2 | 1,380 | 1,379 |
2 | Brock Lesnar | 3 | 688 | 686 |
3 | Cody Rhodes † | 1 | 259+ | 259+ |
4 | Kevin Owens | 1 | 188 | |
5 | Seth Rollins | 2 | 179 | 178 |
6 | Braun Strowman | 1 | ¤150 | 141 |
7 | "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt | 2 | 126 | 124 |
8 | Goldberg | 2 | ¤55 | 64 |
9 | Finn Bálor | 1 | <1 |
Brock Edward Lesnar is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and professional American football player. As a professional wrestler, he is signed to WWE; however, he is currently on hiatus from active competition. Often regarded as one of the most prolific combat sport athletes in the world, Lesnar is the only person to have won the primary heavyweight championships of WWE, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoaʻi, better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers in the world, Reigns's 1,316-day reign as Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion is the fourth-longest world title reign in WWE history and the longest championship reign since 1988.
Colby Daniel Lopez is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Seth "Freakin" Rollins.
Pamela Rose Martinez is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bayley. Her 380-day reign as WWE SmackDown Women's Champion, tied with Rhea Ripley, stands as the longest in the championship's history.
The 2018 SummerSlam was the 31st annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event took place on August 19, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the fourth and final consecutive year.
The 2018 Extreme Rules was the 10th annual Extreme Rules professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on July 15, 2018, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The concept of Extreme Rules is that the event features various hardcore-based matches.
The 2019 SummerSlam was the 32nd annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event took place on August 11, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and was the second SummerSlam held at this venue after the 2004 event and the first held outside of New York since 2014.
The 2019 Survivor Series was the 33rd annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brand divisions. The event took place on November 24, 2019, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, marking the second Survivor Series held here after the 1989 event when the arena was still known as the Rosemont Horizon. It was the first and only Survivor Series to include the NXT brand, the first since 2009 to feature three major brands, and the first and only to feature three-way Survivor Series elimination matches. The theme of the event was brand supremacy and featured wrestlers from the three brands against each other.
The 2022 SummerSlam was the 35th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, July 30, 2022, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, marking the first and only SummerSlam to not be held during the month of August. This was also the first WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event following the retirement of WWE owner Vince McMahon, who had served as chairman and chief executive officer of the company since 1982. McMahon announced his retirement on July 22, eight days before SummerSlam. However, he returned as Executive Chairman on January 10, 2023.
The 2023 SummerSlam, also promoted as SummerSlam: Detroit, was the 36th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, returning the event to its traditional August slot after the previous year's event was held in July. This was the first SummerSlam livestreamed on Binge in Australia. It was the first WWE event held at Ford Field since WrestleMania 23 in April 2007. Michigan previously hosted SummerSlam in 1993.
The American professional wrestling promotion WWE has maintained several men's world championships since Capitol Wrestling Corporation seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance in 1963 to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which was later subjected to various name changes, including World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)—in April 2011, the company ceased using its full name and has since just been referred to as WWE. The company's first world championship was the WWE Championship, which was established along with the promotion's creation in 1963 as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship; it is still active today and is WWE's oldest active title. Whenever the WWE brand extension has been implemented, separate world championships have been created or allocated for each brand.
The Bloodline is a villainous professional wrestling stable that performs in WWE on the SmackDown brand. The stable consists of second leader Solo Sikoa, The Tongans, and Jacob Fatu. This name of the stable is in reference to the majority of the group being members of the Anoaʻi family of Samoan professional wrestlers.
Dominik Óscar Gutiérrez is an American professional wrestler. As of 2020, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, where he is a member of The Judgment Day stable. Mysterio is a former two-time NXT North American Champion.
The 2021 Crown Jewel was a professional wrestling event produced by the American company WWE. It was the third Crown Jewel and took place on October 21, 2021, at Mohammed Abdu Arena on The Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming, marking the first Crown Jewel to air on Peacock in the United States, and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.
The 2023 Money in the Bank was the 14th annual Money in the Bank professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American promotion WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at The O2 Arena in London, England. This was the first Money in the Bank to be held outside of the United States as well as WWE's first major event to be held in London since Insurrextion in May 2002 and England in general since Insurrextion in June 2003. It was also the first Money in the Bank to livestream on Binge in Australia.
The 2023 Night of Champions was the 10th and final Night of Champions professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and was the first Night of Champions held since 2015. This was also the first Night of Champions to take place on a Saturday and the first held in Saudi Arabia, subsequently making it the ninth event that WWE held in the country under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030.
The World Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of three men's world titles on WWE's main roster, along with the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, which are jointly held and defended as the Undisputed WWE Championship on SmackDown. The current champion is Gunther, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Damian Priest at SummerSlam on August 3, 2024.
Finn Bálor becomes the first Superstar to ever win a world title in his debut match on a pay-per-view.
The most recent WWE world title, exclusive to Raw, has had a lot of shit thrown at it.