Opinion: Ranking the effectiveness of all of the Universal Champions

#4: Brock Lesnar, second reign

Brock Lesnar currently holds the Universal Championship.

Why would Lesnar's second reign be considered more effective than his first one?

Bear with me as I explain the reasoning.

While it was great that Roman Reigns finally won the belt from Lesnar after about two years of storytelling, the WWE was left with a quandary after Reigns relinquished the belt.

The most logical solution was to crown either Braun Strowman or Brock Lesnar at the upcoming Crown Jewel event.

Lesnar ended up winning the belt to the chagrin of many.

His winning the belt again served two purposes, at least for the decision-makers in WWE.

The first was they probably trusted Lesnar with the belt more than Strowman.

Although it was unpopular and I personally would have rather seen Strowman win it, Lesnar as champion was something that the WWE brass felt they could rely on in a pinch.

The second purpose was that Wrestlemania season was just around the corner.

Sure, having Strowman hold the gold going into April would have been much better, but Lesnar is a bigger star in terms of drawing power.

He would likely have been given more of a showcase match at 'Mania more so than Strowman would have.

WWE always wants the superstars they perceive as the biggest draws/stars in the mix when considering Wrestlemania season.

And unfortunately in retrospect, they would have had to quickly alter title plans again had Strowman won.

He had nagging elbow issues prior to being 'written off TV' in order to have elbow surgery.

Lesnar hasn't yet defended the belt but his first 'defense' will be at the Royal Rumble.

The jury's out as to whether he'll lose the belt or not to Strowman, but the smart money is on Lesnar retaining and holding the belt until April.

As much as it sucks to say, WWE has a ton of money invested in Lesnar and they obviously want to get as much out of it as possible.

It might not be anything special, but don't discount how important it is to have a trusted veteran hold the belt after something so serious happened to alter things.

EFFECTIVENESS METER: 5 - HASN'T DEFENDED IT YET BUT SAVED WWE FROM POTENTIALLY HAVING TWO BACK-TO-BACK INJURED CHAMPIONS