View source for WWE Universal Championship

{{Infobox pro wrestling championship
|name          = WWE Universal Championship
|image         = Cody Rhodes wins the WWE Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship.webp
|caption       = Current champion [[Cody Rhodes]] with the Undisputed WWE Championship belt that represents both the Universal and [[WWE Championship|WWE Championships]] (2023–present).
|promotion     = [[WWE]]
|brand         = [[SmackDown (WWE brand)|SmackDown]]<!-- BRANDS ARE NOT ITALICIZED, JUST TV SHOWS. -->
|currentholder = [[Cody Rhodes]]
|won           = April 7, 2024
|created       = July 25, 2016
|firstchamp    = [[Finn Bálor]]
|mostreigns    = [[Brock Lesnar]]<br/>(3 reigns)
|longestreign  = [[Roman Reigns]]<br/>(2nd reign, {{age in days|August 30, 2020|April 7, 2024}} days)
|shortestreign = [[Finn Bálor]]<br/>(22 hours)
|oldest        = [[Bill Goldberg|Goldberg]]<br/>({{age in years and days|1966|12|27|2020|02|27}})
|youngest      = [[Kevin Owens]]<br/>({{age in years and days|1984|05|07|2016|08|29}})
|heaviest      = [[Braun Strowman]]<br/>({{Convert|385|lb|kg|abbr=on}})
|lightest      = [[Finn Bálor]]<br/>({{Convert|190|lb|kg|abbr=on}}) 
|pastnames=
* '''WWE Universal Championship'''<br/>(2016–present)
* Undisputed WWE Universal Championship<br/>(2022–2024){{efn|name=fn1|Together with the [[WWE Championship]].}}
* '''Undisputed WWE Universal Championship'''<br/>(2024–present){{efn|name=fn1}}
}}
The '''WWE Universal Championship''' is a [[professional wrestling]] world championship in [[WWE]] for the men of the [[WWE SmackDown|SmackDown]] [[WWE Brand Extension|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 Championship''') and the [[World Heavyweight Championship (WWE, 2023–present)|World Heavyweight Championship]] from the [[WWE Raw|Raw]] brand. The current champion is [[Cody Rhodes]], who is in his first reign. He beat Roman Reigns in a [[Professional wrestling match types#No Disqualification match|Bloodline rules match]] on April 7, 2024 at night two of [[WrestleMania XL]]. Reigns had held the title for more than one thousand days.

== History ==

=== Creation ===
With the return of the [[WWE Brand Extension]] in the middle of 2016,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (Exclusive)|url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/wwe-smackdown-live-usa-1201782569/|last=Steinberg|first=Brian|date=May 25, 2016|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|access-date=May 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=WWE's destiny to be determined during SmackDown's Live premiere|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/article/live-draft-smackdown-premiere?sf29076738|publisher=WWE|date=20 June 2016|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref> a [[WWE Draft|draft]] took place in July 19. The [[WWE Championship|WWE Champion]] [[Dean Ambrose]] was drafted to [[WWE SmackDown|''SmackDown'']]. And as a result, [[WWE Raw|''Raw'']] was left without a world title.<ref name="Draft">{{cite web|title=2016 WWE Draft results: WWE officially ushers in New Era|url=http://www.wwe.com/2016-wwe-draft-results|publisher=WWE|access-date=July 19, 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Raw07252016">{{cite web|last1=Tedesco|first1=Mike|title=WWE RAW Results – 7/25/16 (Live from Pittsburgh, fallout from Battleground, new era of RAW begins)|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/wwe-wrestling-results/wwe-raw-results/64911-wwe-raw-results-72516-live-pittsburgh-fallout-battleground-new-era-raw-begins/|work=Wrestleview|date=July 25, 2016|access-date=July 25, 2016}}</ref> The first champion was determined at [[SummerSlam (2016)|SummerSlam]] on August 21, 2016. [[Finn Bálor]] beat [[Seth Rollins]] to win the title.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Laboon|first1=Jeff|title=Finn Bálor def. Seth Rollins|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/2016/wwe-universal-championship-finn-balor-seth-rollins-result|work=WWE|access-date=August 21, 2016}}</ref>

=== Undisputed WWE Universal Championship ===
[[File:Universal Champion Roman Reigns WWE Live event 01-23-2022 (cropped).jpeg|thumb|left|Two-time and longest reining champion [[Roman Reigns]] with the [[SmackDown]] design of the belt (2019–2023). He held the title for 1,316 days during his second reign, which is the fourth-longest world title reign in WWE history and the longest of any WWE title since 1988.|301x301px]]
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 presented a new [[World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)|World Heavyweight Championship]] for the other brand, which was won by [[Seth Rollins|Seth "Freakin" Rollins]] at [[Night of Champions (2023)|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. After [[Cody Rhodes]] won the championships from Reigns in a [[Professional wrestling match types#Hardcore-type matches|Bloodline Rules match]] at [[WrestleMania XL]] Night 2 on April 7, 2024, the combined championships began being simply called the '''Undisputed WWE Championship'''.

== Title history ==
=== Reigns ===

{|class="wikitable" 
|-
!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
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center" width=100%
|+
! data-sort-type="number"|{{abbr|No.|Number}}
! width="12%" |Wrestler
! Reign
! width=12%|Date
! data-sort-type="number"|Days held
! width=13%|Location
! width=10%|Event
! width=80% class="unsortable" |Notes
|-
!1
|[[Finn Bálor]]
|1
|{{dts|2016|08|21}}
|<{{age in days nts|month1=08|day1=21|year1=2016|month2=08|day2=22|year2=2016}}
|[[New York City|New York, NY]]
|[[SummerSlam (2016)|SummerSlam]]
| align="left" |Beat [[Seth Rollins]] in a [[Professional wrestling match types#Singles match|pinfall and submission-only match]] to become the first champion.
|- style="background-color:#e3e3e3"
|{{sort|1.5|—}}
|[[Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Vacant|Vacated]]
|—
|{{dts|2016|08|22}}
|—
|[[New York City|New York, NY]]
|''[[WWE Raw|Raw]]''
| align="left" |Vacated after [[Finn Bálor]] got a shoulder injury during the match at [[SummerSlam (2016)|SummerSlam]].
|-
!2
|[[Kevin Owens]]
|1
|{{dts|2016|08|29}}
|{{age in days nts|month1=08|day1=29|year1=2016|month2=03|day2=5|year2=2017}}
|[[Houston|Houston, TX]]
|''[[WWE Raw|Raw]]''
| align="left" |This was a [[Professional wrestling match types#Multi-person matches|elimination match]], also involving [[W. Morrissey|Big Cass]], [[Roman Reigns]] and [[Seth Rollins]].
|-
!3
|[[Bill Goldberg|Goldberg]]
|1
|{{dts|2017|03|05}}
|{{age in days nts|month1=03|day1=05|year1=2017|month2=04|day2=02|year2=2017}}
|[[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, WI]]
|[[WWE Fastlane|Fastlane]]
| align="left" |
|-
!4
|[[Brock Lesnar]]
|1
|{{dts|2017|4|2}}
|504
|[[Orlando, Florida|Orlando, FL]]
|[[WrestleMania 33]]
| align="left" |
|-
!5
|[[Roman Reigns]]
|1
|August 19, 2018
|64
|[[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn, NY]]
|[[SummerSlam]]
|
|-style="background-color:#e3e3e3"
|{{sort|5.5|—}}
|Vacated
| —
|October 22, 2018
| —
|[[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence, RI]]
|[[WWE Raw|''Raw'']]
|align=left|Vacated after [[Roman Reigns]] got [[leukemia]].
|-
!6
|[[Brock Lesnar]]
|2
|November 2, 2018
|156
|[[Riyadh|Riyadh, Saudi Arabia]]
|[[Crown Jewel (2018)|Crown Jewel]]
|align=left|Beat [[Braun Strowman]] to win the vacant title.
|-
!7
|[[Seth Rollins]]
|1
|April 7, 2019
|98
|[[East Rutherford, New Jersey|East Rutherford, NJ]]
|[[WrestleMania 35]]
|
|-
!8
|[[Brock Lesnar]]
|3
|July 14, 2019
|28
|[[Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, PA]]
|[[Extreme Rules (2019)|Extreme Rules]]
|align=left|Cashed in his [[Money in the Bank ladder match|Money in the Bank]] contract on Seth Rollins
|-
!9
|[[Seth Rollins]]
|2
|August 11, 2019
|80
|[[Toronto|Toronto, Canada]]
|[[SummerSlam (2019)|SummerSlam]]
|
|-
!10
|[[Bray Wyatt|The Fiend (Bray Wyatt)]]
|1
|October 31, 2019
|118
| rowspan="2" |[[Riyadh|Riyadh, Saudi Arabia]]
|[[Crown Jewel (2019)|Crown Jewel]]
|This was a [[Professional wrestling match types#Falls Count Anywhere match|Falls Count Anywhere match]] that could not be stopped for any reason.<br/>The title became exclusive to the [[SmackDown]] brand because of Wyatt's status as a SmackDown wrestler.
|-
!11
|[[Bill Goldberg|Goldberg]]
|2
|February 27, 2020
|37
|[[Super Show-Down (2020)|Super Show-Down]]
|
|-
!12
|[[Braun Strowman]]
|1
|April 3, 2020
|141
| rowspan="3" |[[Orlando, Florida|Orlando, FL]]
|[[WrestleMania 36]]
|
|-
!13
|[[Bray Wyatt|The Fiend (Bray Wyatt)]]
|2
|August 23, 2020
|6
|[[SummerSlam (2020)|SummerSlam]]
|
|-
!14
|[[Roman Reigns]]
|2
|August 30, 2020
|{{age in days nts|August 30, 2020|April 7, 2024}}
|[[Payback (2020)|Payback]]
| align="left" |This was a [[Professional wrestling match types#Multi-person matches|triple threat match]], also involving [[Braun Strowman]]. 
At WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, Reigns defeated [[WWE Championship|WWE Champion]] Brock Lesnar to win the title. Both championships together began being called "Undisputed WWE Universal Championship".
This is the fifth-longest world championship reign in WWE history, and the longest reign for any WWE championship since 1988.
|-
!15
|[[Cody Rhodes]]
|1
|April 7, 2024
|{{age in days nts|April 7, 2024}}+
|[[Philadelphia|Philadelphia, PA]]
|[[WrestleMania XL]] Night 2
|align="left" |This was a [[Professional wrestling match types#Hardcore-type matches|Bloodline Rules match]]. Both combined championships began being simply called "Undisputed WWE Championship" after his win.
|}

=== Combined reigns ===
[[File:Universal Championship Lesnar WM34 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Record three-time champion [[Brock Lesnar]] with the first [[WWE Raw|Raw]] design of the belt (2016–2019)]]
As of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="background-color: #ffe6bd" |†
|Is the current champion
|-
| style="background-color:#bbeeff;text-align:center;" |¤
|The exact length of at least one title reign is uncertain, so the shortest length is listed.
|-
!<1
|Reign was less than a day
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"
!Rank
!Wrestler
!No. of<br/>reigns
!Combined<br/>days
!Combined days<br/>rec. by WWE
|-
!1
|{{sortname|Roman|Reigns}}|| 2 || 1,380 || 1,379
|-
!2
|{{sortname|Brock|Lesnar}} || 3 || 688 || 686
|-
!3
| style="background-color: #ffe6bd" |{{sortname|Cody|Rhodes}} † || 1 || colspan="2" | {{age in days nts|April 7, 2024}}+ 
|-
!4
|{{sortname|Kevin|Owens}} || 1 || colspan="2" | 188 
|-
!5
|{{sortname|Seth|Rollins}} || 2 || 179 || 178
|-
!6
|{{sortname|Braun|Strowman}} || 1 || style="background-color:#bbeeff"|¤150 || 141
|-
!7
|{{sortname|"The|Fiend" Bray Wyatt|Bray Wyatt}}|| 2 || 126 || 124
|-
!8
|{{sortname||Goldberg|Bill Goldberg}} || 2 || style="background-color:#bbeeff"|¤55 || 64
|-
!9
|{{sortname|Finn|Bálor}}|| 1 || colspan="2" | <1 
|}

== Footnotes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Other websites ==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwe-universal-championship|title=Official WWE Universal Championship Title History}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-univ.html|title=Wrestling-Titles.com: WWE Universal Championship}}

{{WWE Championships}}

[[Category:World Wrestling Entertainment championships]]
[[Category:WWE Raw]]