WWE has quietly retired a world title after WrestleMania 41.
When Cody Rhodes originally defeated Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, the company recognized him as the Undisputed Champion, including both the Universal title and the WWE title in his list of accolades.
This came after Roman Reigns won the Universal title from Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam 2020 and became a double champion by defeating Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38.
The company has now changed the records, however. Not only have they officially retired the Universal title on their website, but altered the records to recognize the Tribal Chief as the last title holder instead of The American Nightmare:
The change seems to be something that has been made very recently, as both Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 and John Cena on tonight’s Raw were still introduced as the Undisputed WWE champion.
The Universal title belt was introduced by Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley back in 2016, when the WWE title went to SmackDown in the reintroduced brand split.
The title switched brands in 2019 with SmackDown star Bray Wyatt winning the belt. The then-WWE champion Brock Lesnar then quit SmackDown for the Raw brand, bringing his championship over.
Officials reintroduced a new version of the World Heavyweight Championship for Raw in 2023 after the then Undisputed Champion Reigns was drafted to SmackDown, making him exclusive to the brand.
