via WWE/IMAGN

WWE Finally Retires Title After Fans Point Out John Cena Is Technically An 18-Time Champion

Originally posted on The Sportster | By Josh Coulson | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 4:44 PM ET

John Cena is not an 18-time World Champion despite what you might have seen some fans saying online.
WWE has officially retired the Universal Title, retconning anyone who might have held it in the past year.
The updated page for the title has its lineage ending when Roman Reigns lost to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40.

John Cena made history in the main event of WrestleMania Sunday by beating Cody Rhodes to become WWE Champion. Cena's 17th World Title win which now means he stands alone as the wrestler with the most World Championships to his name, surpassing Ric Flair on 16. However, some fans quickly pointed out that technically, Cena is now two World Title wins ahead of The Nature Boy.

Does The Universal Title Mean John Cena Is Now An 18-Time World Champion?

Confusion. Isn't Cena technically 18x time champion?by in SquaredCircle

The title Cena won last weekend technically represents two championship lineages - the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship. Roman Reigns put the Universal Title up against Brock Lesnar's WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 38 night two. Reigns won that match, holding both belts for a while before combining them into one championship.

However, even though the two titles became one physically, the Universal Championship was never retired which meant its lineage continued. When Cody Rhodes defeated Reigns to finish his story at WrestleMania 40, he technically won two titles even though those titles were represented by one belt. That also means Cena won two titles on Sunday night, making him an 18-time champion. Or at least it did until fans started pointing out WWE's oversight.

WWE Has Now Retired The Universal Championship

According to WWE.com, the Universal Championship has now been retired. This doesn't appear to be something that happened a year ago either and fans only just noticed. The site was updated very recently, after Cena beat Rhodes at WrestleMania. However, just to stamp out any chatter of Cena pulling two title reigns clear of Flair, WWE has taken the opportunity to update the Universal Championship's page to make sure there is no mention of Cena.

According to the official lineage of the now-retired title, the company's final Universal Champion was Reigns. It hasn't cut the belt's lineage off at the Lesnar match, though. It runs right through to April 7, 2024, so long after the two belts were physically merged into one. WWE officially recognizes the night Reigns lost to Rhodes as the night the Universal Title was retired. That means not only is Cena not an 18-time champion, but Rhodes isn't a two-time champion either.

I can't imagine Cena is going to care all that much about this. I can't even imagine he was aware, although I'm sure he's seen some of the chatter on social media. If nothing else, it will be a bullet he can fire back at fans the next time he has a mic in his hand and throws shade at them. The main thing that disappoints me about all this is how it affects Randy Orton. Now if he beats Cena at Backlash he'll only jump up to 15 reigns rather than 16.

This article first appeared on The Sportster and was syndicated with permission.

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