10 Weird But True Facts For WWE In 2023

1. An Absent Champion

Roman Reigns defences
WWE.com

During the course of 2023, it became readily apparent that Roman Reigns was a part-time champion. Even WWE acknowledged it when they created the World Heavyweight Championship after WrestleMania 39.

But now, it’s official: No WWE world champion in the modern era has defended his title in televised bouts fewer times than Roman Reigns. The Tribal Chief put his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on the line just five times in 2023, and only twice since Mania. That includes the WWE Championship, Universal Championship and defunct World Heavyweight Championship.

In setting this record, Reigns unseats himself in 2022 and the combination of Brock Lesnar and Goldberg in 2017 (both with the Universal Championship) as those rarely defending their titles.

It’s an astounding but true statistic, and not one WWE really should be celebrating in any way. They put both world titles on one guy, then had to create a third world championship as an acknowledgement that he never defends the strap(s).

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.