John Cena and Brock Lesnar Won’t Appear Live on “Monday Night Raw”

John Cena will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Brock Lesnar in less than two weeks at WWE “SummerSlam” on Aug. 17. However, neither superstar are advertised to appear during the Aug. 4 edition of “Monday Night Raw.”

Instead, WrestleZone.com is reporting that WWE will air a lengthy video package promoting the match, similar to what UFC has done in the past to promote their prize fights.

Lesnar is only contractually obligated to appear on selective dates, and WWE felt the need to keep him off of this edition of WWE TV so that he can make more dates in the future building towards his encounter with someone at “Night Of Champions.” Lesnar is likely going to work WrestleMania 31 as well, and would need to save some dates to build towards a program in 2015 as well. His contract with the company is set to expire following WrestleMania on Mar. 26, 2015.

Cena will be out filming his part in Judd Apatow’s upcoming film, “Trainwreck.” He recently missed the July 21 edition of “Monday Night Raw” for similar reasons, as he was filming a part for an upcoming Tina Fey and Amy Poehler flick.

Both Cena and Lesnar are expected to appear on “Raw” next week in Portland for one final confrontation prior to “SummerSlam.”

Editor’s Note

It’s odd to have both participants of a main event for a huge pay-per-view away from the ring at a time like this. I’m sure the video package will make up for it, though. One can only hope.

Follow @WalderSports