10 Times WWE Totally BOTCHED A New Title

10. WWE Universal Championship

It’s hard to really fault WWE for everything that went wrong with the Universal Championship when it debuted in 2016. But its first few appearances seemed snakebitten.

First, the title belt itself was the source of criticism, looking nearly identical to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship – just with a red strap because it was exclusive to Raw. The name also was mocked in part because WWE had a “World” championship and now had a “Universal” title, and also because it was connected to WWE’s strange affection for calling their fans the WWE universe.”

Finn Balor would become the inaugural champion, defeating Seth Rollins in a hotly contested match at SummerSlam. But Balor was injured during the contest and was forced to surrender the title the next night on Raw, meaning that a brand-new title was vacated 24 hours into its existence.

The Universal Championship would eventually recover, with Roman Reigns turning it into the “A-championship” when he won it in 2020, but its initial moments looked rather dubious.