Opinion: The Universal Championship is the biggest irony in WWE

The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship which is exclusive to the Raw brand. It was established on 25 July 2016, on an episode of Raw after the promotion's original world title, The WWE Championship became exclusive to SmackDown due to the brand split.

The Universal Championship was named in honor of the WWE Universe, they stated that the championship was for the fans.

It was never the people's championship since the time it was first unveiled at SummerSlam 2016. Going by the reaction of the Brooklyn crowd, they rejected it just after a first look, and chanted "this belt sucks" throughout the match between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. But that was not all.

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net pointed to it as "a title belt that no one likes", and Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports called it "ugly".

If it is a championship that represents the WWE Universe, then it should look like something that fans would want. Even after such a public outrage, WWE stood by their design, and they have not changed it till date.

While many have gotten used to it after two years, there has still been some instances where fans have voiced their opinions against the design.

WWE has not listened to their viewers in choosing the superstar who would represent the WWE Universal Championship either. When it first came around in 2016, fans thought that finally the management would choose someone who really deserved to be champion rather than choose a holder Vince likes. The word 'universal' had a meaning to the fans.

The first champion was Finn Balor, who was one of the crowd's favorite. He had recently joined the main roster, and watching him getting this big push really excited everyone. But unfortunately he had to drop the title the following night on Raw due to a genuine injury.

After that the management chose to give the belt to Kevin Owens who was the best heel of the company, and could get the most heat from the crowd, which is the most important job of a good heel. True wrestling fans loved him. He is good at promo deliveries, and his in-ring capabilities complemented it really well.

But after WrestleMania 33 everything changed. At that event, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship. As his long reign started growing week by week, his appearance on the show became rarer.

He wouldn't even defend it on all the pay-per-views. Sometimes months would pass without the Universal Title on the show. In his reign of 504 days, he defended it only 13 times. Roman Reigns probably has more defenses than him, including on all the live events and house shows, and he has not been the champion for even 2 months. Kevin Owens in his reign of 188 days had 40 defenses.

When WWE finally decided to move away from Lesnar at SummerSlam 2018, they made Roman Reigns champion. He is the most hated wrestler right now, and because the management continues to push him over other deserving wrestlers.

So basically, the championship which was supposed to represent the WWE Universe by giving them champions whom they like, has done the complete opposite by giving them the champions they dislike most, which is ironical.

It has reached a point where many have even stopped caring about the belt. But hope is still alive. WWE needs one reign from someone who is over with the fans like Strowman, Rollins, or Balor. The management needs this more now than ever as Raw's rating is declining each week. Giving the fans what they actually want could help the company increase Raw's ratings.