Top 3 longest reigning WWE Universal Champion

Kevin Owens, who won the championship at the age of 32 years and 114 days, is the youngest champion, while Goldberg, who won the title a second time at the age of 53, is the oldest.

WWE Universal Championship in a file photo [Image-WWE]
By Blesson Daniel | Aug 31, 2022 | 4 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

The American professional wrestling organisation WWE developed and marketed the WWE Universal Championship, a heavyweight title that is now defended on the SmackDown brand division. Along with the WWE Championship on Raw, it is one of the two global championships held by the WWE main roster. Roman Reigns is the reigning champion at the moment, and he has held the position for the most time—two reigns—to date. Given that he holds both the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship simultaneously, Reigns is regarded as the undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

The championship, which is known to represent the WWE Universe, was introduced on July 25, 2016, to serve as the main title for the Raw brand. On July 19, 2016, the brand split was reinstated, and a draught that followed resulted in the WWE Championship, the promotion’s inaugural global championship, becoming only available to SmackDown. Finn Bálor was the initial Universal Champion. Bálor became the first WWE wrestler to capture a world championship in his pay-per-view debut and did it less than a month after making his main roster debut. Bálor hurt his shoulder during the championship bout, forcing him to relinquish the belt the next day.

Top 3 longest reigning WWE Universal Champion’ are

Kevin Owens (188 days)

Kevin Owens in a file photo. (Image: Twitter/WWE)
Kevin Owens in a file photo. (Image: Twitter/WWE)

Kevin Owens is one of the most loved and entertaining wrestler of all-times and his accomplishments are no lesser even though he wore the title once in his career span till now. Owens beat Neville on the August 22 episode of Raw to earn a spot in the fatal four-way elimination contest for the vacant Universal Championship the following week.

Following Triple H’s intervention, Owens beat Big Cass, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins on the August 29 edition of Raw to win the Universal Championship, his first major championship in the WWE. Between September and October, Owens successfully defended the championship against Rollins, both times with Jericho’s interference, first in a singles match at Clash of Champions on September 25 and then at Hell in a Cell on October 30. After Jericho caused a diversion at Fastlane, Owens lost the belt to Goldberg in 22 seconds, ending his 188-day tenure as champion.

READ MORE: Top 5 Longest reigning WWE champions of all time

Brock Lesnar (503 Days)

Brock Lesnar in a file photo [Image-Twitter]
Brock Lesnar in a file photo [Image-Twitter]

Brock Lesnar won the WWE Universal Championship on WrestleMania 33 beating Goldberg. Lesnar was slated to defend his championship against Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman in a fatal four-way match at SummerSlam on the July 31 episode of Raw. Should Lesnar lose the belt in the event, Lesnar and Heyman declared that they will both depart WWE. Lesnar successfully pinned Reigns to keep the championship at SummerSlam.

Lesnar didn’t appear on WWE television for over three months after the Greatest Royal Rumble. Kurt Angle, the general manager of Raw, threatened to rob Brock Lesnar of the Universal Championship at Extreme Rules if he didn’t appear at Raw the following night. Heyman agreed that Lesnar would defend his championship at SummerSlam the next night on Raw; later that same night, Reigns rose to the position of top contender. Lesnar to the venue for the Raw programme on July 30 but declined to enter the ring.

Strowman was standing at the winner’s side of the ring at SummerSlam to fulfil his Money in the Bank contract. After Lesnar defeated Strowman and became disoriented as a result, Reigns won the Universal Championship, putting an end to Lesnar’s 503-day stint as champion. The reign was the longest since 1988 and the sixth-longest in the history of the WWE.

Roman Reigns (729+ days, current champion)

Roman Reigns in a file photo [Image-wwe.com]
Roman Reigns in a file photo [Image-wwe.com]

Reigns won the Universal Championship for the second time at Payback after defeating the reigning champion The Fiend and Braun Strowman. WWE Champion Drew McIntyre of Raw was beaten by Reigns at Survivor Series on November 22 in a champion vs champion contest. As of January 16, Reigns had the sixth-longest global title reign in the history of the organisation, surpassing Lesnar’s 503-day run to become the longest-reigning Universal Champion. Seth “Freakin” Rollins challenged Roman Reigns for the championship on January 29 at the Royal Rumble event. Reigns lost the bout via disqualification, however he was still the champion because of the disqualification.

After their bout at WrestleMania 36 was postponed due to Reigns taking a break, Goldberg would make his comeback on the February 4 edition of SmackDown to challenge Reigns to a match at Elimination Chamber for the championship. This match had been in the works for two years. To keep the championship, Reigns defeated Goldberg at the event by technical submission. He won the WWE Championship for a fourth time at WrestleMania 38 by defeating Brock Lesnar, becoming him the first athlete to simultaneously hold the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship. Also, he is currently in fued with Drew McIntyre whom he will face in Clash at the Castle where Reigns have to defend hi titles.