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UPDATED: WHAT WAS SCHEDULED FOR RAW WITH BROCK LESNAR, WHERE WERE HE & PAUL HEYMAN AND MORE

Last night’s Monday Night Raw was scheduled to feature Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman going face to face with the WWE Universal champion’s Wrestlemania 34 challenger, Roman Reigns.  It was to be the first segment to officially begin to build to their main event bout at WWE’s biggest show of the year on 4/3 in New Orleans.

Obviously, that did not take place.

WWE sources have confirmed that the script for last night’s Raw was to feature a lengthy back and forth promo segment featuring the three, right down to, according to one source, Lesnar calling Reigns a “b****.”   The segment was slated for the second hour of Raw as Ronda Rousey’s segment was always closing the show, but obviously, there was no Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman.

Instead, Roman Reigns was alone, cutting a promo on Lesnar that the live crowd and online fans were favorable to, knocking Lesnar for not appearing and putting over his own family lineage and his respect for professional wrestling, presenting himself, truthfully, as a wrestler who always shows up and works his hardest no matter where the WWE event is or how big or how small the show is.  It was a good promo that struck a chord with the audience - we are also told that while that promo was not in the script, the majority of the verbiage was approved.

So, where were Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman?

According to several sources who worked the Raw taping, there was no sign of Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman, to the best of their knowledge, at any point yesterday in Anaheim. Lesnar is known to stay to himself in a private dressing area, so it’s not unusual he isn’t seen milling about the day of a show - especially since he isn't one to arrive very early in the day.  Heyman, however, is usually very social and makes himself available to talents seeing advice at events he is at.  Neither was seen by anyone we’ve spoken to.  It appears neither was ever there.

We do know that the night before Raw, UFC’s Dana White posted a photo of himself and Lesnar up on social media, implying that they were together in Las Vegas at the same time as the WWE Elimination Chamber PPV.  While we have been told that Lesnar was indeed in Vegas, whether the photo was new or old, it was obviously posted with the idea of sparking speculation about Lesnar’s future as his current WWE deal is slated to expire this Spring shortly after Wrestlemania 34. 

It could very well be that Lesnar opted not to come to Raw as part of hardline negotiating tactics with WWE or it could be that WWE was upset about the Dana White photo and told Lesnar not to come to the taping.  Of course, it could also be some out of the box worked storyline attempting to finally get Roman Reigns back over the hump with the vocal fan base that rejects him, as well.

All of those theories are, as of right now, conjecture.   As far as why this happened, that remains unknown as of this writing as whoever is in the small circle that knows the intimate details has yet to tell the tale.   

WWE, on their website, claimed that attempts to contact Heyman were unsuccessful.  Of course, that would be storyline.

Heyman, never one to miss an opportunity to spike interest in himself or Lesnar, responded via Twitter, writing:

Lesnar’s next advertised appearance for WWE is this Saturday 3/3 at a live event in Chicago.  His next Raw appearance would be Monday 3/12 in Detroit, Michigan.  If Lesnar shows up, whatever happened yesterday will be a soon to be forgotten blip on the radar.  If he doesn’t, it’s an indication of a bigger story brewing as Lesnar’s contract winds down.

One thing is for certain - fans talking about Brock without him even appearing on Raw.

 

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