1,000 days of the WWE Universal Championship: 3 positives and 4 negatives

The Universal Championship was introduced to WWE programming in the summer of 2016 after the rules of the WWE Draft stated that Raw and SmackDown Live would each have their own world champion.

While the WWE Championship moved to SmackDown Live, Raw’s on-screen authority figures at the time – Stephanie McMahon (Commissioner) and Mick Foley (General Manager) – revealed on the July 25, 2016 episode of Raw that they wanted to name the brand’s world title after the WWE Universe, hence the ‘Universal Championship’ name.

Four weeks later, Finn Balor became the inaugural winner of the title when he defeated Seth Rollins on August 21 at SummerSlam, but his reign abruptly ended after just one day due to injury.

Since then, we have seen the following title reigns take place: Kevin Owens (188 days), Goldberg (28 days), Brock Lesnar (504 days), Roman Reigns (64 days), Brock Lesnar (156 days), Seth Rollins (41 days and counting).

As of the time of writing (May 18, 2019), it has been exactly 1,000 days since the Universal Championship was first on the line in the Balor vs. Rollins match at SummerSlam 2016, so now seems like as good a time as any to take a look back at the biggest positives and negatives that the title has brought WWE fans so far.

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#7 Negative: Finn Balor injury

WWE was widely praised in the build-up to SummerSlam 2016 when the popular Finn Balor joined Raw from NXT and made an immediate impression by defeating Roman Reigns, as well as three other Superstars in a Fatal 4-Way match, on his first night with the brand.

As we have gone on to find out over the last couple of years, it is very rare that somebody from NXT achieves instant success on the main roster, so the majority of the WWE Universe was happy to see the Irishman defeat Seth Rollins at his first pay-per-view to win the Universal Championship.

Sadly for Balor, he suffered a serious shoulder injury during the match, ruling him out for the next seven months, and he was forced to relinquish the title one day later on Raw.

Although he has been involved in Universal Championship matches against Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar since then, Balor is yet to reclaim the red brand’s top male title.

#6 Positive: The title elevated Kevin Owens

WWE made the best of a bad situation following Finn Balor’s injury at SummerSlam 2016, with Kevin Owens stepping up from the mid-card to win the vacant Universal Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match on Raw against Big Cass, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.

Owens went on to main-event three of the next four Raw-exclusive pay-per-views, retaining his title against Rollins at Clash of Champions and Reigns at Roadblock: End of the Line before he was defeated by Goldberg at Fastlane.

Throughout that time, he formed an alliance with Chris Jericho (Team Chris & Kevin, aka Team Kevin & Chris) which turned out to be one of the most entertaining parts of WWE programming between SummerSlam 2016 and WrestleMania 33.

The end of Owens’ tenure as champion against Goldberg left a lot to be desired (more on that shortly), but his 188-day reign will go down as one of the greatest spells of his WWE career.

#5 Negative: Part-time champions

The aura surrounding Goldberg after his long-awaited return to WWE was intact following his 86-second victory over Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2016. However, three months later, fans began to turn against the WCW legend when he squashed Kevin Owens in a 22-second match to win the Universal Championship at Fastlane.

This kick-started a run where Raw’s top male title was held by part-time champions – first Goldberg, then Lesnar – in 23 of the 25 months between March 2017 and April 2019.

Needless to say, particularly during Lesnar’s two reigns, fans did not take kindly to seeing part-time Superstars show up every once in a while in segments on Raw without competing in matches. Not only did the title’s reputation suffer as a result, but it meant that the majority of men on Raw could only strive to win the Intercontinental Championship.

It should have felt like a big deal every time the Universal Championship was finally defended (e.g. Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34), but fans were so disinterested in the storyline and title that they hijacked the match with boos and chants.

#4 Positive: SummerSlam 2018 booking

Four months after the WWE Universe hijacked Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34, Reigns defeated Bobby Lashley to become the #1 contender for Lesnar’s title at SummerSlam 2018.

With the Brooklyn fans expected to react to the match in a similar way to how the fans in New Orleans reacted at ‘Mania, WWE made a genius booking decision by having the popular Braun Strowman stand at ringside throughout the match with his Money In The Bank contract.

Instead of boos and irrelevant chants, the SummerSlam crowd could not help but get engrossed in the story of the match, especially with Strowman threatening to cash in and potentially win the Universal Championship at any moment..

In the end, Reigns picked up the victory after Lesnar threw Strowman’s briefcase up the stage area to prevent him from cashing in.

The outcome of Reigns winning the match was predictable, but the way in which “The Big Dog” finally defeated “The Beast” was brilliantly executed.

#3 Negative: Roman Reigns relinquishment

Roman Reigns announced the devastating news in October 2018 that he had to relinquish the Universal Championship after being diagnosed with leukemia.

At the time, the four-time WrestleMania main-eventer was due to defend the title against Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar in a Triple Threat match at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, so WWE decided to book Strowman vs. Lesnar in a one-on-one match for the vacant title instead.

Thankfully, four months after Reigns’ announcement, he returned to WWE in February 2019 and revealed that his leukemia was in remission.

He has since returned to in-ring action, taking part in multiple Shield reunions before defeating Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 35, while he is currently involved in rivalries on both Raw and SmackDown Live with Shane McMahon and Elias.

Unlike Finn Balor, who finally received opportunities at the Universal Championship after he was forced to relinquish it, Reigns is yet to be given a shot at the title that he never officially lost.

#2 Negative: Braun Strowman losses

After an 11-month spell with The Wyatt Family, Braun Strowman broke out on his own as a singles competitor following the 2016 WWE Draft and gradually established himself as one of the most prominent Superstars on Raw.

Throughout his time on the red brand, Strowman has been involved in six televised matches for the Universal Championship but he has been unable to win the title on every occasion: vs. Kevin Owens (Raw, January 2017), Fatal 4-Way (SummerSlam 2017), vs. Brock Lesnar (No Mercy 2017), vs. Lesnar and Kane (Royal Rumble 2018), vs. Roman Reigns (Hell In A Cell 2018), vs. Lesnar (Crown Jewel 2018).

“The Monster Among Men” had an unrivalled aura about him between mid-2016 and SummerSlam 2018. However, after another two Universal Championship failures at Hell In A Cell and Crown Jewel, it felt as though his character had been significantly damaged by the series of losses that he suffered in high-profile matches.

WWE’s decision-makers even opted to remove him from another Universal Championship match (vs. Lesnar at the 2019 Royal Rumble), presumably because yet another loss would have hurt his character even more.

#1 Positive: Seth Rollins slays The Beast

After Roman Reigns was forced to relinquish the Universal Championship in October 2018, the vacant title was up for grabs when Brock Lesnar faced Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel.

Lesnar won, courtesy of interference from Baron Corbin, and he went on to have another relatively lengthy reign as champion (156 days) before losing the title to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35.

Very few WWE fans wanted to see “The Beast” win the title at Crown Jewel, especially after his previous part-time reign had only just ended two months prior at SummerSlam, so Rollins’ win at WWE’s biggest show of the year not only gave everybody a fan favourite as champion again, but it also meant that the title was finally back on Raw full-time.

Reports this week have suggested that Lesnar could challenge for the Universal Championship at the Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia on June 7, but WWE wouldn’t go back to having a part-time champion again already, would they? Or would they...?!