Backstage News On Braun Strowman's Absence From WWE RAW
The absence of Braun Strowman from this week's Monday Night Raw left many scratching their heads considering the main event status for "The Monster Among Men." According to the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer states that the appearance of his current rival Brock Lesnar is what kept Strowman off the card.
Strowman and Lesnar will face each other in the main event of No Mercy for the Universal Championship. Lesnar appeared on Raw with Paul Heyman to deliver a message to Strowman, and WWE had no plans of Strowman responding. So if Strowman wasn't going to have an interaction with Lesnar, officials didn't believe it made sense to have him anywhere else on the card.
"Strowman wasn't on Raw this week as a creative decision for the Lesnar vs. Strowman program," Meltzer wrote. "The feeling was to keep the two of them apart after the physical angle last week. Strowman was taken off this show with the idea you can't have them both on the show at this point without interacting."
Meltzer wrote that Lesnar and Heyman aren't scheduled to appear at the Sept. 4 edition of Raw, so Strowman will be back. All three of them are scheduled for the Sept. 11 Raw.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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