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What's the story?
Brock Lesnar was advertised to have a face-off with Roman Reigns on this week's Monday Night Raw, but he ended up being a no-show. WWE.com stated that they attempted to get answers for Lesnar's absence with an official statement on their website on Tuesday, and they would promptly get a response on Twitter from Lesnar's advocate, Paul Heyman.
In case you didn't know...
Brock Lesnar won the WWE Universal Championship on April 2nd at WrestleMania 33 from Goldberg. His reign will eclipse a full year when he defends it at WrestleMania 34 against Roman Reigns.
The heart of the matter
WWE.com would provide the following statement on their website regarding Lesnar's absence last night:
After Universal Champion Brock Lesnar failed to meet his WrestleMania challenger, Roman Reigns, face-to-face on this week's Raw, WWE.com reached out to The Beast's advocate for an explanation or, at the very least, a rebuttal to The Big Dog's incendiary critique of the champion on the broadcast. Unfortunately, Heyman has not responded to requests for comment.
They also mentioned that they attempted to reach out of Kurt Angle for comment, but were unable to reach him as well:
Reporters have also contacted the office of Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, but following Triple H's attack on the WWE Hall of Famer in the wake of Stephanie McMahon's confrontation with Ronda Rousey, Angle remains unavailable. Stay with WWE.com as more details on Lesnar become available.
The news of Lesnar's absence in Anaheim, California for Monday Night Raw was announced by Roman Reigns at the top of the third hour this week. He would cut a scathing promo bashing Lesnar for only being in the WWE for the money while guys like Reigns bust their butt every night because they love the business.
Paul Heyman would respond on Twitter this morning shortly after the news was posted. Check out his tweet below:
The poor social media employee for the WWE also felt the wrath of the advocate of 'The Beast' for entering the wrong link into the Tweet. At the time of this writing, it is unknown if Heyman and/or Lesnar will be at Raw next week.
What's next?
With both Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar absent from Raw this week, one should expect at least the advocate to show up to respond to what Reigns had to say. The next edition of Raw will take place from the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Author's take
I think everything here was wonderfully orchestrated, especially if the WWE knew ahead of time Dana White was going to post that picture on Instagram the night of Elimination Chamber of him and Lesnar wearing a UFC shirt.
That picture coupled with promoting Lesnar for Raw only for him and Heyman to not show up was brilliant for painting Lesnar as the villain here. It helped that Roman probably cut the best promo of his career this week too.
It was the necessary fuel that was added to the fire that this main event needed.
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