Roman Reigns’ latest reign as Universal Champion has been dominant, culminating in his victory over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38. But how many days has Roman Reigns been Universal Champion?
Prior to his current run, Roman Reigns first won the WWE Universal Championship on August 19th 2018 at SummerSlam, pinning Brock Lesnar to avenge the loss against ‘The Beast’ earlier in the year at WrestleMania 36.
Unfortunately, Reigns’s grip on the title 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 the live crowd. The WWE Universe were left wondering when, or even if, they would see ‘The Big Dog’ again.
On February 25th 2019, Reigns made his return to Raw to a huge ovation, revealing his leukaemia was once again in remission. Later that night, Reigns and Seth Rollins came to the aid of former Shield ally Dean Ambrose, thwarting an attack by Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin and Elias.
Following a brief reformation of The Shield, Reigns was drafted to SmackDown and announced as “SmackDown’s greatest ever acquisition”.
Roman Reigns – Universal Champion
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reigns stepped away from the ring to focus on his health but returned to attack newly-crowned Universal Champion The Fiend at SummerSlam 2020.
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.
Since then ‘The Tribal Chief’ has obtained the services of Paul Heyman as his Special Counsel, and joined forces with The Usos to rule SmackDown with an iron fist.
How long has Roman Reigns been Universal Champion?
Roman Reigns has been WWE Universal Champion for 1,208 days, successfully defending the championship against all challengers, including Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, John Cena and Goldberg, among many others.
On January 16th 2022, Reigns surpassed Brock Lesnar’s record of 504 days to become the longest reigning WWE Universal Champion and the sixth longest world title reign in WWE history.
Following a long feud throughout the ‘Road To WrestleMania’, Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 in a match billed as the ‘biggest WrestleMania match of all time’ to win the WWE Championship for the fourth time.
Victory over Lesnar added another achievement to Reigns’s incredible run, becoming the first WWE Superstar to hold both the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship simultaneously.
After this, Roman Reigns’ dominant run only continued. His next challenger for the combined titles (henceforth known as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship) was against “King of Bros” Matt Riddle, whom Reigns dispatched in just under seventeen minutes on the June 17th, 2022 episode of SmackDown. The champion’s evening was not done yet, however, as he was attacked by a returning Brock Lesnar in the post-match. This sparked the Reigns/Lesnar rivalry anew, and led to a Last Man Standing match at SummerSlam on July 30th, 2022.
Reigns emerged victorious over Lesnar once again, but the victory certainly didn’t come easy. To defeat Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2022, Roman Reigns had to call on assistance from his cousins the Usos. The trio buried “The Beast” under a mess of broken announce table parts, steel chairs and more, before Reigns stood on top of the carnage to ensure the ten count. This would end their seven-year long feud. At the time of writing, the two have not met in-ring since this match.
The next challenge for Roman Reigns appeared in the shape of Scotsman Drew McIntyre, who challenged Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Clash at the Castle. With the event being held in the United Kingdom, Drew McIntyre had the crucial “home advantage,” but it was still not enough to overcome Reigns, who managed to defeat McIntyre after help from a debuting Solo Sikoa.
In a surprising turn of events, Roman Reigns’ next title defence pitted him against an unconventional challenger: YouTube sensation Logan Paul. Despite Paul’s relatively brief stint in WWE, he had already made waves by securing victories against established names like The Miz and the formidable duo of Rey & Dominik Mysterio. Reigns met Logan Paul at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, and though it was a hard-fought bout from both sides, Roman Reigns was once again announced as the victor.
The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship was not defended again until over two months later, at January 2023’s Royal Rumble. This defence hiatus was due to Roman Reigns and The Bloodline’s participation (and subsequent triumph) in a War Games encounter during Survivor Series 2022. At the aforementioned Royal Rumble event, Reigns showcased his dominance once again by defeating Kevin Owens in a nineteen-minute bout, aided by Sami Zayn‘s unwilling interference.
However, the Royal Rumble drama would soon take an even more dramatic turn in the post-match. Sami Zayn, formerly aligned with The Bloodline, would shock the WWE Universe by betraying his “Tribal Chief,” whacking him in the back with a steel chair. The live crowd erupted in an electrifying response to this twist. A Zayn babyface turn had been teased for a long time, thus they were delighted to see it come to fruition.
Sami Zayn’s defiance against the Bloodline leader positioned him as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship’s next contender at Elimination Chamber 2023. But alas, like those before him, Zayn failed to dethrone Roman Reigns from his championship pedestal. Reigns escaped from the Montreal event with his perfect record unscathed.
After dispatching Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns was soon faced with another daunting challenge. WrestleMania 39 saw him square off against the resilient Royal Rumble 2023 victor, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, who had been on an impressive streak following a horrendous injury to his pectoral muscle. However, Cody Rhodes could not overcome The Bloodline’s dirty tactics. Echoing the pattern seen in Reigns’ clash against Drew McIntyre, Solo Sikoa once again appeared as Roman Reigns’ advantage. Sikoa’s intervention tilted the balance of the match, securing yet another victory for Reigns in the WrestleMania Night 2 Main Event.
Now well over 1000 days into his championship reign, “The Tribal Chief” would spend the next couple of Premium Live Events in tag matches, teaming with Solo Sikoa, as the Bloodline dissolved even further with the alienation of The Usos.
In the main event of SummerSlam 2023, Roman Reigns faced off in an epic thirty-six-minute bout against cousin Jey Uso. Just when it looked as though Jey Uso was about to defeat Reigns and lift the Undisputed Universal WWE Championship, he was betrayed by his brother, Jimmy Uso. In this moment of opportunity, Roman Reigns capitalized on the chaos, emerging victorious and retaining his championship.