10 Things WWE Regrets About Extreme Rules

3. The Universal Championship Has Never Featured On Extreme Rules

Chris Jericho Cm Punk
WWE

Yes, that statement is 100% factual. Since the WWE Universal Championship was introduced in 2016, the title has not once been defended at an Extreme Rules event.

To go into detail, the Universal Title was first introduced on 25 July 2016, with Finn Bálor going on to become the first ever holder of the championship by defeating Seth Rollins at that year’s SummerSlam. The Extreme Rules event of 2016 had already taken place that May, and so the first Extreme Rules PPV where the Universal Championship was in play was the 2017 edition of the event.

Of course, a certain Brock Lesnar was the Universal Championship during the time of Extreme Rules 2017. Instead of any sort of Lesnar match, the PPV was headlined by a five-man match to crown the new number 1 contender to Brock’s gold. By 2018’s Extreme Rules, Lesnar was again Universal Champ, and again the title wasn’t featured on the show.

So, here we are, nearly three years after the inception of the Universal Championship, and only now are we seeing the title defended at Extreme Rules. And even then, said title match is involved in a tag bout where both the Universal Championship and Raw Women’s Championship are on the line.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.