When WWE brought back the brand split in 2016, the Universal Championship was also brought into existence. At the time, the WWE Championship had become an exclusive Smackdown title after Dean Ambrose’s victory over his Shield stablemates Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns at Battleground. This left Raw without a top title and thus, the Universal Championship was born. But this title has been wrought with misfortune and some have even come to call the belt cursed. Let’s take a look at the brief history of the Universal Championship.
As of this writing, there have been eleven reigns between seven different superstars. The title has also been vacated twice and it recently switched brands from Raw to Smackdown.
A match at SummerSlam 2016 between Finn Balor and Seth Rollins decided the inaugural Universal Champion, with Balor coming out on top. What was sure to be a fantastic start to his run on the main roster was quickly cut short as Balor was forced to relinquish the title less than 24 hours after his victory as he had suffered a shoulder injury which would put him on the shelf for months. Once he returned, he never reclaimed that spotlight and floated about on the mid-card before taking a break to get married and then re-appearing on NXT where he has been faring significantly better.
Kevin Owens enjoyed a rather pleasant reign as Universal Champion that was ended by Goldberg, a decision that still bugs many wrestling fans to this day. Goldberg held the title for less than a month before losing it to Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar beating Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 began the 504-day Reign from Hell. Lesnar rarely showed up on WWE television and any challengers were never treated as a credible threat. AJ Styles, Smackdown’s counterpart champion at the time, defended his title more times in a single month than Lesnar had in about a year. This reign also featured the boring squash match at WrestleMania 34 and the false finish at WWE’s first Saudi Arabia event. Eventually, at long last, Roman Reigns managed to defeat Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2018.
Roman Reigns’ first Universal Championship reign will unfortunately be shrouded in sadness. After working so hard and rallying the fans behind him, Reigns had to vacate the title it had taken him nearly a year to capture. He had been diagnosed with leukemia and would have to step away to battle his returning cancer. It was one of the most emotional nights I have ever experienced.
Once Reigns went on hiatus, the belt was hot potatoed between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins over three different pay-per-views in 2019. No one was injured or diagnosed with anything life-threatening during this period but the reigns were heavily damaged by bad booking and feuds that went on for far too long.
Bray Wyatt popped back up with a sinister new alter ego in The Fiend and while their Hell in A Cell catastrophe led to some terrible online backlash, Wyatt was able to defeat Rollins. He even went on to create his own custom version of the title.
Wyatt was dethroned by Goldberg in Saudi Arabia earlier this year and many wrestling fans are still upset about this decision. Many of the complaints have to do with putting the belt on a part-timer, tarnishing Wyatt’s new character, and Goldberg’s recent history of nearly injuring his opponents.
Roman Reigns was slated to take on Goldberg for the title at WrestleMania 36, which was originally slated to occur in Tampa, Florida. However, the event was relocated to the Performance Center due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It seems as though Reigns has elected not to go through with the match or the pay-per-view itself in the best interests of his health.
So, is the Universal Championship cursed? It’s hard to say as some people are superstitious and others do not believe in anything of the sort. I will say, cursed or not, this title has been maligned with injuries, vacancies, and lackluster reigns from the beginning. If something isn’t done soon to correct the perception, the Universal Championship will always be known as a belt of misfortune.
