Roman Reigns compares his WWE Universal Championship reign to Brock Lesnar's

Roman Reigns believes he has increased interest in the WWE Universal Championship again following Brock Lesnar’s lengthy run as a part-time champion.

In 2016, the inaugural Universal Champion, Finn Balor, was forced to relinquish the title after just one day due to injury. Lesnar then went on to become synonymous with the Universal Championship between 2017 and 2019, holding the title for a combined 686 days.

Speaking to WWE Now India, Reigns recalled how Balor’s injury and Lesnar’s part-time status affected the Universal Championship. He also gave his opinion that his current reign is “second to none” compared to previous holders of the title.

“It’s really put this Universal Championship on the map because when we debuted it a few years ago, it kind of struggled, and the title reigns weren’t what we had hoped for,” Reigns said. “There were a lot of injuries and then there’s a lot of gripes about once Brock Lesnar, who had a pretty long and illustrious title reign… but he wasn’t quite as active as some of our hardcore and dedicated fans had hoped. But what I’ve done over the past plus 30 weeks I think is second to none, and we’re just gonna continue to add to that legacy and really set this apart from everybody else.”

What a BATTLE.The Head of the Table prevails at #WMBacklash! @WWERomanReigns @HeymanHustle @WWECesaro pic.twitter.com/XdiXBjXPjd

— WWE (@WWE) May 17, 2021

Roman Reigns won the Universal Championship in a Triple Threat match against The Fiend and Braun Strowman in August 2020 at WWE Payback. He recently defended the title against Cesaro in the main event of WrestleMania Backlash.

Comparing Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns’ Universal Championship reigns

Roman Reigns feuded with Brock Lesnar over the Universal Championship in 2017 and 2018

Brock Lesnar held the Universal Championship three times during his two-and-a-half-year run in the title picture. Due to his part-time schedule, the former UFC star only competed in 13 Universal Championship matches on WWE television.

By contrast, Roman Reigns defended the Universal Championship three times during his 63-day reign with the title in 2018. He has already participated in another 12 Universal Championship matches since re-entering the title picture in 2020.

.@WWERomanReigns has pinned both @WWEDanielBryan & @EdgeRatedR to RETAIN the #UniversalTitle in the main event of Night 2's #WrestleMania! You 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 acknowledge him now. #AndStill @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/A0vBzBXQWN

— WWE (@WWE) April 12, 2021

The biggest victory of Roman Reigns’ current Universal Championship reign took place on the second night of WrestleMania 37. The Tribal Chief pinned Daniel Bryan and Edge at the same time to retain his title in the main event.

Please credit WWE Now India and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.