| WWE Universal Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Current design of the WWE Universal Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) |
Ricky Starks | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | October, 2023 (aired October , 2023) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE The E-Fed | ||||||||||||||||||
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The WWE Universal Championship is the first-tier championship title for men in the WWE E-Fed federation on Friday Night SmackDown; the second brand of the company. The title was introduced on May 25, 2020 episode of Raw when the announcement was made that the brand split would be returning. The lineage follows SmackDown's former main championship the World Heavyweight Championship. With recent reintroduction of WCW as a direct competitor and with Shane McMahon owning all WCW properties (which included the Big Gold Belt) the Universal Championship was created to be SmackDown's counter part to Raw's WWE Championship. The inaugural champion was The Boogeyman who won the championship in an Armageddon Hell in a Cell match at Unforgiven 2020. The current champion is Ricky Starks who is in his first reign after defeating former champion Jey Uso and Montez Ford on Super SmackDown. Jey Uso is the longest reigning Universal Champion with his reign at 125 days; while Kane is the shortest reigning champion at 21 days.
Title history[]
Key[]
| # | The overall championship reign |
| Date | The date in which the championship was obtained |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
| Venue | The event where the championship was obtained |
| Notes | Any additional important information on how the championship changed hands |
| — | Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
| # | Wrestler Name | Reign | Date | Days held | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Boogeyman | 1 | June 28, 2020 | 33 | Unforgiven 2020 |
The WWE Universal Championship would be created by Triple H to act as the counter part to Raw's WWE Championship. The Boogeyman would become the inaugural champion after winning a Six Man Armageddon Hell in a Cell match at Unforgiven 2020. |
| 2 | Finn Bálor | 1 | July 31, 2020 | 30 | SmackDown | |
| 3 | Shane Thorne | 1 | August 30, 2020 | 112 | SummerSlam (2020) | |
| 3 | Kane | 1 | December 20, 2020 | 21 | Cyber Sunday (2020) | |
| 4 | The Miz | 1 | January 10, 2021 | 47 | Royal Rumble (2021) | |
| 5 | Johnny Gargano | 1 | February 26, 2021 | 51 | SmackDown | |
| 6 | Finn Bálor | 2 | April 18, 2021 | 72 | WrestleMania 37 | |
| 7 | Adam Cole | 1 | June 29, 2021 | 45 | Extreme Rules (2021) | |
| Vacant | August 13, 2021 | SmackDown | ||||
| 8 | Sami Zayn | 1 | August 22, 2021 | 68 | SummerSlam (2021) | |
| 9 | Jinder Mahal | 1 | October 29, 2021 | 92 | SmackDown | |
| Vacant | January 29, 2022 | SmackDown | ||||
| 10 | Kenny Omega | 1 | February 4, 2022 | 72 | SmackDown | |
| 11 | Tyler Breeze | 1 | April 17, 2022 | 70 | WrestleMania 200 | |
| 12 | CM Punk | 1 | June 26, 2022 | 56 | Extreme Rules (2022) | |
| 13 | Hook | 1 | August 21, 2022 | 68 | SummerSlam (2022) | |
| 14 | Solo Sikoa | 1 | October 28, 2022 | 51 | SmackDown | |
| 15 | Brian Danielson | 1 | December 18th, 2022 | 84 | Cyber Sunday (2022) | |
| 16 | CM Punk | 2 | March 12, 2023 | 35 | No Mercy (2023) | |
| 17 | Jake Anderson | 1 | April 16, 2023 | 71 | WrestleMania 39 | |
| 18 | Jey Uso | 1 | June 25, 2023 | 125 | Extreme Rules (2023) | |
| 19 | Ricky Starks | 1 | October 27, 2023 | 4+ | SmackDown |
List of combined reigns[]
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| <1 | Indicates the reign was less than 1 day |
As of June 25, 2023
| Rank | Wrestler | # of Reigns | Combined Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jey Uso | 1 | 125 |
| 2. | Shane Thorne | 1 | 112 |
| 3. | Finn Bálor | 2 | 102 |
| 4. | Jinder Mahal | 1 | 92 |
| 5. | CM Punk | 2 | 91 |
| 6. | Bryan Danielson | 1 | 84 |
| 7. | Kenny Omega | 1 | 72 |
| 8. | Jake Anderson | 1 | 71 |
| 9. | Tyler Breeze | 1 | 70 |
| 10. | Hook | 1 | 68 |
| 10. | Sami Zayn | 1 | 68 |
| 11. | Johnny Gargano | 1 | 51 |
| 11. | Solo Sikoa | 1 | 51 |
| 12. | The Miz | 1 | 47 |
| 13. | Adam Cole | 1 | 45 |
| 14. | The Boogeyman | 1 | 33 |
| 15. | Kane | 1 | 21 |
| 16. | Ricky Starks † | 1 | 4+ |