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The Universal Championship is one of the two top titles in the WWE today and the top title of the flagship brand Raw which makes it even more prestigious.
Unveiled in 2016, the first winner was crowned at SummerSlam when Finn Balor beat Seth Rollins for the title and The Demon King made history by becoming the first ever Universal Champion.
Since then, the title has seen a rocky road as Balor relinquished the title the next night due to injury, then Kevin Owens held the title for some time before being squashed in a match for it by Goldberg. After Goldberg’s short reign came to an end at the hands of Brock Lesnar, Lesnar held the title for 503 days and only showed up once in a blue moon to defend it.
Lesnar finally lost the championship to Roman Reigns who vowed to defend it every week on Raw but was unable to do so and later relinquished the title due to an illness.
Lesnar once again won the championship to much surprise of the WWE Universe, after whom the title was actually named, as they wanted a fighting champion to hold the title and not a part-timer.
Brock has since held the title for well over two months and will be finally defending it at the Royal Rumble against none other than the inaugural winner of the championship Finn Balor.
Due to the rockiness of the timeline of the championship, it is in some serious need of a rehaul, and we have come up with three steps in which the championship should be booked on the road to WrestleMania to increase the championship‘s value.
#3 Finn Balor beats Brock Lesnar
While many believe that an ordinary man cannot beat Brock Lesnar, one should keep in mind that Finn Balor is no ordinary man.
Balor has taken on the biggest and baddest wrestlers in the wrestling world and has still managed to pull off convincing victories over all his opponents. This was one of the reasons that allowed him to stay the NXT Champion for the longest period in history and also allowed him to become the inaugural Universal Champion.
Even though Balor doesn’t have the “beef”, as Vince would call it, to go to war with Brock Lesnar, he has the speed and stamina that can undo The Beast.
We have already seen smaller men like Daniel Bryan, Eddie Guerrero, and Kurt Angle and more skilled wrestlers like AJ Styles give Lesnar a tough time, and Balor is a combination of all these wrestlers combined.
Winning back the Universal Championship could be what’s best for Balor’s career at the moment, and he can do the job for the entire WWE Universe at the Royal Rumble.
#2 Seth Rollins wins the Royal Rumble
If Finn Balor does win the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, then he will automatically not be a part of the Royal Rumble match at the event.
If that is the case, then Seth Rollins stands the highest chance of winning the Rumble match as he is one of the few favourites to do so.
Rollins is currently not holding any championship and could fall out of the Intercontinental Championship picture soon and get in the picture for the top title instead.
SmackDown is currently packed with superstars who can fall in line for the WWE Championship, but Raw has a stronger mid-card scene at the moment as compared to an upper card scene due to the absence of the Universal Champion every week.
Therefore, Rollins emerges as the best man to win the Rumble as not only has he proven to be a workhorse, but done well in previous such matches too.
#1 Rollins Challenges Balor for the Universal Championship - SummerSlam 2016 Rematch
The inaugural Universal Championship match was one of the best matches of 2016. Finn Balor beat Seth Rollins while battling through an injury which he sustained during the match to win the title.
The plan would have been to have the two men get into an extended rivalry for the title after Balor won it, but the injury caused Balor to step away from the ring and relinquish his championship.
Now WWE has the chance to revive a rivalry that could bring Raw’s ratings back up and satisfy the entire WWE Universe.
Balor and Rollins are the two biggest faces of Raw at the moment, and if the two men compete against each other for the top title, then nothing will be better for the brand.
As the battle would be similar to that of AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan on SmackDown, Raw will surely benefit from such a scenario and the WrestleMania 35 will be the perfect stage for this rivalry to kickoff!
