New stipulation added for SmackDown WWE Universal title match

A new stipulation has been added to Friday’s WWE Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Riddle.

Tonight’s episode of Raw opened with Riddle coming out to confront Reigns’ special counsel Paul Heyman, who was a guest on Miz TV. Heyman told Riddle that if he were to lose the match on Friday against Reigns, he could never receive another title shot as long as Reigns is the champion.

Riddle earned a championship match on last week’s SmackDown after defeating Sami Zayn. The stipulations for that match had been if Riddle were to win, he would get a championship match against Reigns, but if he lost, he would be barred from SmackDown.

Reigns has not defended the WWE Universal Championship on television since unifying the WWE and Universal titles at WrestleMania 38, defeating Brock Lesnar. His last on-air match was a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania Backlash, where he and The Usos defeated Drew McIntyre, Riddle, and Randy Orton.