WWE Universal Championship History
Complete list of every WWE Universal Championship reign — who held it, when they won it, and how long they kept it. Established Jul 25, 2016.
Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar
Full Title Lineage
| # | Champion | Won | Reign |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Roman Reigns2nd reign Returned with Paul Heyman as the Tribal Chief and held the title 581 days before unifying it with the WWE Championship by defeating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38; the combined lineage continues as the Undisputed WWE Championship. | Aug 30, 2020Payback 2020Orlando, FL | 581 days |
| 13 | Bray Wyatt2nd reign Won the title back in the ThunderDome — a seven-day reign ended by a returning Roman Reigns. | Aug 23, 2020SummerSlam 2020Orlando, FL | 7 days |
| 12 | Braun Strowman A late substitute for Roman Reigns at the empty-arena WrestleMania — his first world title. | Apr 4, 2020WrestleMania 36 Night 1Orlando, FL | 141 days |
| 11 | Goldberg2nd reign Beat The Fiend in under three minutes for his second Universal reign, at age 53. | Feb 27, 2020Super ShowDown 2020Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 37 days |
| 10 | Bray Wyatt1st reign As 'The Fiend' — won a Falls Count Anywhere match over Rollins that could not be stopped for any reason. | Oct 31, 2019Crown Jewel 2019Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 119 days |
| 9 | Seth Rollins2nd reign Won the rematch clean. | Aug 11, 2019SummerSlam 2019Toronto, ON | 81 days |
| 8 | Brock Lesnar3rd reign Cashed in Money in the Bank moments after the mixed-tag main event. | Jul 14, 2019Extreme Rules 2019Philadelphia, PA | 28 days |
| 7 | Seth Rollins1st reign Slayed The Beast in the opening match of WrestleMania 35. | Apr 7, 2019WrestleMania 35East Rutherford, NJ | 98 days |
| 6 | Brock Lesnar2nd reign Defeated Braun Strowman for the vacant title. | Nov 2, 2018Crown Jewel 2018Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 156 days |
| 5 | Roman Reigns1st reign Relinquished the title on Raw to battle a returning leukemia diagnosis. | Aug 19, 2018SummerSlam 2018Brooklyn, NY | 64 days |
| 4 | Brock Lesnar1st reign 504 days, the longest reign of the lineage — defended on a famously sparse part-time schedule. | Apr 2, 2017WrestleMania 33Orlando, FL | 504 days |
| 3 | Goldberg1st reign Beat Owens in 22 seconds — his first singles title since WCW. | Mar 5, 2017Fastlane 2017Milwaukee, WI | 28 days |
| 2 | Kevin Owens Won a Fatal 4-Way over Seth Rollins, Big Cass and Roman Reigns for the vacant title after Triple H turned on Rollins. | Aug 29, 2016RawHouston, TX | 188 days |
| 1 | Finn Bálor Defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural Universal Champion, but suffered a torn labrum in the match and relinquished the title on Raw the next night — a one-day reign. | Aug 21, 2016SummerSlam 2016Brooklyn, NY | 1 days |
Introduced on the July 25, 2016 episode of Raw as the red brand's world championship after that summer's brand split sent the WWE Championship exclusively to SmackDown. Its run was defined by part-time champions, The Fiend's horror experiment, and Roman Reigns' Tribal Chief era before unification at WrestleMania 38.
WWE Universal Championship — FAQ
The WWE Universal Championship is no longer active. Unified with the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38 on April 3, 2022, when Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match. The combined lineage continues as the Undisputed WWE Championship; a new World Heavyweight Championship was created for Raw in 2023. The final champion was Roman Reigns.
Finn Bálor was the inaugural WWE Universal Championship, winning it on Aug 21, 2016 at SummerSlam 2016.
Brock Lesnar has the most reigns with 3.
Roman Reigns's reign beginning Aug 30, 2020 is the longest at 581 days.
There have been 14 reigns across 8 different champions since the title was established.