WWE Retires Major Championship

There is officially one fewer WWE championship as the company has retired a major title.

When Cody Rhodes finished his story at WrestleMania 40, he did so by defeating Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Reigns had held that title and the two belts that went with it since he defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38 to combine his Universal Title and the WWE Championship. However, in June 2023, a new single belt was introduced but Reigns still used the full title.

Cody Rhodes only carried one belt following his win and was referred to as the Undisputed WWE Champion. Now, following John Cena’s 17th world title win at WrestleMania 41, WWE has officially declared the Universal Championship retired.

WWE has made the change on its own website, where the Universal Title is now described as retired. This puts it in league with the likes of the NXT Cruiserweight Title, the 24/7 Championship, and the European Title.

A Brief History Of The WWE Universal Title

The Universal Title was introduced into WWE in 2016 as Raw’s top championship after the WWE Title became exclusive to SmackDown in that year’s draft. The first time the championship was competed for was at SummerSlam in that year when Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural champion.

However, Balor suffered an injury in that match and was forced to vacate the gold just 24 hours later. The title was also famously vacated in October 2018 when Roman Reigns announced his leukaemia had returned and he had to take a hiatus from the company.

Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, and Braun Strowman were the eight WWE stars who held the Universal Title during its time in existence in WWE.