The WWE Universal Championship is one of the top prizes in professional wrestling. The title was established on July 25th, 2016, as the championship exclusive to the Raw brand at the time. Its creation came as a result of the brand split and subsequent draft that separated the WWE rosters. The Draft saw the WWE Championship head to SmackDown so the the Universal Championship was created for the Raw brand.
The Universal Championship has been held by some of the biggest names in WWE, including Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins,Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Goldberg.
Let’s take a look at every WWE Universal Champion so far…
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Notes |
| 1 | Finn Bálor | August 21st, 2016 | SummerSlam | Brooklyn, NY | 1 | 1 | Finn Bálor defeated Seth Rollins in a pinfall and submission-only match to become the inaugural champion. |
| 2 | Kevin Owens | August 29th, 2016 | Raw | Houston, TX | 1 | 188 | This was a fatal four-way elimination match for the vacant title. |
| 3 | Goldberg | March 5th, 2017 | Fastlane | Milwaukee, WI | 1 | 28 | |
| 4 | Brock Lesnar | April 2nd, 2017 | WrestleMania 33 | Orlando, FL | 1 | 504 | |
| 5 | Roman Reigns | August 19th, 2018 | SummerSlam | Brooklyn, NY | 1 | 64 | |
| 6 | Brock Lesnar | November 2nd, 2018 | Crown Jewel | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 2 | ||
| 7 | Seth Rollins | April 7th, 2019 | WrestleMania 35 | East Rutherford, NJ | 1 | 98 | |
| 8 | Brock Lesnar | July 14th, 2019 | Extreme Rules | Philadelphia, PA | 3 | 28 | This was Lesnar’s Money in the Bank cash-in match. |
| 9 | Seth Rollins | August 11th, 2019 | SummerSlam | Toronto, ON, Canada | 2 | 81 | |
| 10 | “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt | October 31st, 2019 | Crown Jewel | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 1 | 119 | This was a Falls Count Anywhere match |
| 11 | Goldberg | February 27th, 2020 | Super ShowDown | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 2 | 27 | |
| 12 | Braun Strowman | March 25 or 26, 2020 | WrestleMania 36 | Orlando, FL | 1 | 151 | |
| 13 | “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt | August 23rd, 2020 | SummerSlam | Orlando, FL | 2 | 7 | This was a Falls Count Anywhere match. |
| 14 | Roman Reigns | August 30th, 2020 | Payback | Orlando, FL | 2 | 1000+ | This was a No Holds Barredtriple threat match also involving Braun Strowman, who Reigns pinned. |
1st WWE Universal Champion: Finn Balor
- Number of reigns: 1
- Reign timeline: 21.08.2016 – 22.08.2016
- Reign days: 1
Finn Balor hadn’t been on the main roster long when he fought his way into title contention. Balor had established himself as a top talent during his in NXT and it was clear there were big plans for him on Monday Night Raw. Following his debut he defeated Cesaro, Rusev, Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns on his way to face Seth Rollins at SummerSlam to become the inaugural champion. Unfortunately, Bálor’s reign was short-lived, however, as he was forced to vacate the title the very next day due to a shoulder injury.
2nd WWE Universal Champion: Kevin Owens
- Number of reigns: 1
- Reign timeline: 08.29.2016 – 03.05.2017
- Reign days: 188
The title was vacant for 7 days following the disappointing start, but on August 29th, 2016, as second champion was crowned. Kevin Owens won the title after defeating Big Cass, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins fatal four-way elimination match. In a shocking turn of events,Triple H interfered and delivered a Pedigree to Rollins allowing a surprised Owens to capture his first world title.
Despite having several highly-rated title defences most notably a Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins and a No Disqualification match against Roman Reigns, Owens’ reign was defined by two things. Firstly his friendship with Chris Jericho made them one of the most entertaining acts in the company and secondly his 22-second loss to Goldberg.
Unfortunately, Owens’ reign came to an end after 188 days when he lost the title to Goldberg at Fastlane. This was a disappointing end to his reign and existed only to elevate Goldberg’s feud with Brock Lesnar heading into WrestleMania 33.
3rd WWE Universal Champion: Goldberg
- Number of reigns: 2
- 1st Reign timeline: 03.05.2017 – 04.02.2017
- 1st Reign days: 27
- 2nd Reign timeline: 02.27.2020 – 04.25.2020
- 2nd Reign days: 27
In 2016 Goldberg returned to WWE after a 12-year absence and instantly reignited his rivalry with Brock Lesnar. At Survivor Series the former WCW icon defeated Lesner in less than 90-seconds. The shocking defeat did little to squash their beef and a final showdown between the two was scheduled for WrestleMania 33.
Yet despite this grand spectacle, it was decided the Universal Championship was needed to elevate the outing even more. So at Fastlane, Goldberg hit Owens with two spears and a jackhammer to win the title in just 25 seconds. The win was a huge upset and changed the direction of the title’s trajectory. Upon its introduction, it seemed as though the title was to promote the company’s up-and-coming talent such as Balor and Owens, but after Goldberg won it it became more about creating a lineage of legends. Thankfully, Goldberg would lose the title 27 days later to Lesnar WrestleMania 33 in a frantic 4-minute match but he would be back the claim the title once again 3 years later.
In another return to WWE Goldberg won the championship for a second time on February 27th, 2020 at Super ShowDown by defeating “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. In typical fashion, Goldberg hit Wyatt with three spears and a jackhammer to win the title in just under three minutes. The title change was an unpopular one but seemed to take place in order to set up Goldberg vs Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 37. Reigns, however, withdrew from the match due to health concerns stemming from his Leukima diagnosis in the midst of the pandemic.
Braun Strowman was brought in as Reigns’ replacement and ended Goldberg’s second title run after 27 days at the fanless event.
4th WWE Universal Champion: Brock Lesnar
- Number of reigns: 3
- 1st Reign timeline: 04.02.2017 – 08.19.2018
- 1st Reign days: 504
- 2nd Reign timeline: 11.02.2018 – 04.07.2019
- 2nd Reign days: 156
- 3rd Reign timeline: 07.14.2019 – 08.11.2019
- 3rd Reign days: 28
Brock Lesnar became the fourth Universal Champion by defeating Goldberg at WrestleMania 33. His victory added another big name to the title’s lineage, but it came at a cost. Lesnar was WWE’s biggest attraction at the time, but he worked a limited schedule. As champion, he had very few title defences. His limited ring time led to a record-breaking 504-day reign, which only saw 6 title defences, and therefore drew heavy criticism from the fans. The Beast would successfully defend the title against Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns before dropping it to the Reigns at SummerSlam 2018.
Lesnar’s second reign as Universal Champion began on October 2nd, 2018 at Crown Jewel, when he defeated Strowman in Saudi Arabia to capture the vacant title. He would hold the title for 156 days successfully defending once against Finn Balor before losing it to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35 in 2019.
Lesnar’s third and final title run began on July 14th, 2019, at Extreme Rules when he successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Rollins. The reign was short-lived, as he lost the title back to Rollins 28 days later at SummerSlam.
5th WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns
- Number of reigns: 2
- 1st Reign timeline: 08.19.2018 – 10.22.2018
- 1st Reign days: 64
- 2nd Reign timeline: 08.30.2020 – Current
- 2nd Reign days: current
At SummerSlam Roman Reigns finally defeated Brock Lesnar to become the Universal Champion. The victory came after a lengthy journey to the title and was yet another WWE attempt to crown Reigns as the top guy in the company. But while he brought the title back to a full time schedule there were still large sections of the audience that rejected him.
Unfortunately, Reigns’ title run was cut short due to a re-diagnosis of Leukaemia. During an episode of Raw on October 22nd 2018, he vacated the championship after 64 days in an emotional address to a stunned live crowd.
Reigns returned the following year and looked to be on his way to recapturing the title from Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 but during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he stepped away from the ring to focus on his health.
At WWE Payback on August 30th 2020, Roman Reigns defeated The Fiend and Braun Strowman in a No Holds Barred Triple Threat match to win the WWE Universal Championship for the second time, starting his long and commanding reign.
Roman Reigns is the current and longest-reigning WWE Universal Champion. His reign has been one of the most dominant in WWE history, and he has successfully defended the title against a number of top challengers, including Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, Edge and John Cena.
7th WWE Universal Champion: Seth Rollins
- Number of reigns: 2
- 1st Reign timeline: 04.07.2019 – 07.14.2019
- 1st Reign days: 98
- 2nd Reign timeline: 08.11.2019 – 10.31.2019
- 2nd Reign days: 81
In the opening match of WrestleMania 35 Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to become the WWE Universal Champion. The win ended Lesnar’s second 156-day run with the title and made Rollins the company’s top babyface on Monday Night Raw.
After several stop-starts in the title’s short history, Rollins vowed to give the fans the Universal Championship reign they deserved. He successfully defended it against Kofi Kingston and AJ Styles before entering a disappointing feud with Baron Corbin, which did nothing to raise the status of the champion or the title.
Lesnar would relieve Rollins of the title at Extreme Rules cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase in an attempt to revitalise both. Rollins defeated Lesnar once again at the following PPV SummerSlam to begin his second run.
However, this reign although decent, is only remembered for the controversial Hell in a Cell match against the Fiend. The new Bray Wyatt character had captured the imagination of the fans and had been booked to withstand any punishment. During the match, Rollins battered the Fiend with everything he could get his hands on but he just kept coming resulting in the referee calling the match off as a no contest. The outcome was met with outrage and hurt Rollins’ title run. The Feind would go on to defeat Rollins for the title at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
10th WWE Universal Champion: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
- Number of reigns: 2
- 1st Reign timeline: 10.31.2019 – 02.27.2020
- 1st Reign days: 119
- 2nd Reign timeline: 08.23.2020 – 08.30.2020
- 2nd Reign days: 7
The Fiend defeated Seth Rollins in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, which the title became a SmackDown exclusive title for the first time in its history.
Upon winning the title Wyatt began a feud with Daniel Bryan. He successfully defended it against him at Survivor Series 2019 and Royal Rumble 2020 in a Strap Match. However, a Goldberg return put an end to his 119-day title run when he beat him at Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia in just under 3 minutes.
The Fiend would get another shot at the title during a feud with Braun Strowman. During the ThunderDome-era The Fiend defeated Strowman for the championship at SummerSlam 2020 in a Fall Count Anywhere match. However, the reign was brief as he lost the title just 7 days later at Payback in a No Holds Barred Triple Threat match to Roman Reigns.
12th WWE Universal Champion: Braun Strowman
- Number of reigns: 1
- 1st Reign timeline: 03.25.2020 – 08.23.2020
- 1st Reign days: 151
Braun Strowman was the Universal Champion from April 4th, 2020, to August 23rd, 2020. He won the title at WrestleMania 36 beating Goldberg in 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
Strowman was inserted into the match at the last minute when Goldberg’s original challenger Roman Reigns pulled out of the event due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
His 151-day reign was pretty uneventful and existed during WWE’s Performance Center-era without fans present. He successfully defended it against Bray Wyatt at Money in the Bank and both the Miz and John Morrison at BackLash before losing it to the Fiend at SummerSlam 2020.