Ever since the brand split in 2016, WWE has housed two world titles for its main roster. The WWE Universal Championship is the title assigned for the RAW brand.
WWE Universal Champion
The current Universal Champion is Seth Rollins, having won the title from Brock Lesnar at the WWE Summerslam 2019 pay-per-view.
History of WWE Universal Championship
Ever since the brand split was implemented in 2016, WWE has introduced a new world title in the form of the Universal Championship which has been assigned for the Raw brand. The current WWE Universal Champion is Brock Lesnar, who won the title for a record third time at the Extreme Rules 2019 pay-per-view after defeating the former champion, Seth Rollins.
With the WWE Championship becoming brand exclusive to SmackDown Live in 2016, Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and then Raw-General Manager, Mick Foley introduced the Universal Championship as the newest flagship title of Monday Night Raw.
The WWE Universal Championship was established prior to the 2017 SummerSlam pay-per-view and at the event, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor went head-to-head against each other with the latter winning the match and crowning himself as the first-ever Universal Champion. The Universal Championship has also been the focal point of several other major WWE PPVs and also featured in the main event of last year’s WrestleMania 34, as well.
Following the abrupt ending to Finn Balor’s 1-day reign as Universal Champion, Kevin Owens was crowned as the newest champion when he won a fatal-four way match featuring Seth Rollins, Big Cass, and Roman Reigns. Kevin Owens’ reign eventually was brought to an end by the returning Goldberg at Fastlane 2017.
The Universal Championship was also the main event of SummerSlam 2018 when Roman Reigns ended Brock Lesnar’s 504-day reign, only to once again vacate the title as ‘The Big Dog’ was unfortunately diagnosed with leukemia.
How Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar came into the title picture
With Roman Reigns vacating the Universal Championship, WWE had the task of crowning a brand new champion and at the 2018 Crown Jewel show, ‘The Beast Incarnate’ Brock Lesnar made history when he became the first-ever two-time Universal Champion after defeating Braun Strowman in a one-on-one match.
With Brock Lesnar once again back on top of the food chain in WWE, former Shield member Seth Rollins shifted his focus on the Universal Championship and on January 27 at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Rollins won his first Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Braun Strowman. The following night on Raw, Rollins officially challenged Lesnar to a Universal Title match at WrestleMania 35.
At WrestleMania in April, Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win the Universal Championship for the very first time in his career.
Rollins then engaged in a feud against AJ Styles and successfully defended the Universal Championship against ‘The Phenomenal One’ at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Later in the same night, Brock Lesnar won the Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Seth Rollins then successfully defended the Universal Championship against Baron Corbin at the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view in June.
WWE Extreme Rules 2019
At the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Seth Rollins and his girlfriend Becky Lynch successfully defended both the Universal and Raw Women’s Championship in a Winner Takes All Mixed Tag Team Match against Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans, respectively. Following the match, Rollins was attacked by the Money in the Bank briefcase holder Brock Lesnar who assaulted the former by hitting several German Suplexes and an F-5 in order to win back the Universal Championship for the third time and thus ending Seth Rollins’ title reign at 98 days.
WWE SummerSlam 2019
At the SummerSlam 2019 main event, Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar collided in a rematch from WrestleMania 35 after Lesnar had won the Universal Championship from Rollins at Extreme Rules 2019 by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract. Rollins and Lesnar had a match that lasted around 13 minutes with Rollins eventually hitting Lesnar with two back-to-back stomps, as he pinned him clean in order to win back the Universal Championship. With this win, Lesnar’s third title reign as Universal Champion came to an end at 30 days and marked the beginning of Rollins’ second Universal Championship reign.
