10 Times WWE Totally BOTCHED A New Title
Spoiler: Something goes awry more often than not, though some have recovered fine.
The wrestling world has been abuzz with WWE’s creation of a “new” World title, resurrecting the World Heavyweight Championship to serve as a brand-specific top prize on Raw - the show Roman Reigns and his “Undisputed” WWE Universal Championship aren’t populating.
The news certainly didn’t come without controversy, as fans and critics alike immediately pointed to Reigns carrying two World title belts around for the past year-plus and wondered why WWE didn’t simply separate the two – whether that meant stripping Roman of one or having him defend one at WrestleMania 39 and lost that title to Cody Rhodes.
This list does not recount the pros and cons of creating ostensibly a third World title as the tournament careens toward a conclusion at Night of Champions because this isn’t the first time WWE has created or resurrected a major title. In fact, this has been a regular practice throughout the years, with titles coming and going, returning, being merged with other titles, and ultimately being retired for good.
It’s actually rarer that new and resurrected titles are brought into the fold without issue. There almost always is something that goes awry, whether it’s the initial champion, title lineage, presentation, or how it’s rolled out from the jump.
So, with the new World Heavyweight Championship tournament well underway, let’s look back at some of the biggest snafus new WWE titles have experienced...
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.