WWE has officially retired the Universal Championship, marking the end of an era for a title introduced in 2016 during the brand split.

The title is now listed as retired on WWE’s website, with Roman Reigns’ 1,316-day reign standing as its final and longest. Reigns captured the Universal Championship at Payback 2020 and later unified it with the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38 by defeating Brock Lesnar. He continued to defend both titles until being presented with the Undisputed WWE Championship, a design that remains active.

At WrestleMania 40, Reigns lost the Undisputed Championship to Cody Rhodes, who held it until WrestleMania 41, where he was defeated by John Cena. WWE does not count Rhodes’ run as a Universal Title reign, only recognizing it as an Undisputed WWE Championship reign.

Originally introduced at SummerSlam 2016, Finn Balor became the inaugural Universal Champion by defeating Seth Rollins but was forced to vacate the title due to injury. Kevin Owens then captured it, beginning a string of champions that included Goldberg, Bray Wyatt, and Braun Strowman.

The Universal Title had just four distinct reigns before being phased out in favor of the World Heavyweight Championship, currently held by Jey Uso.

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