Brock Lesnar Missed WWE Raw for the First Time in 2020 This Week

Brock Lesnar did not appear on Monday Night Raw this week. In previous years, that wouldn't be particularly noteworthy given that "The Beast" works a very sparse schedule even when he's holding one of WWE's world championships. But from the start of 2020 up through last week's Raw, Lesnar had made an appearance in some shape or form on every episode. Sometimes it was to stand alongside Paul Heyman, other times it was to attack a new challenge (i.e. Drew McIntyre and Ricochet) one time he even played into a comedy segment by interacting with (and destroying) R-Truth.

Lesnar is booked to defend his WWE Championship against Ricochet on Feb. 27 at the Super ShowDown event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "The Beast" nailed the young challenger with an F5 last week after earning his title shot, but this week Ricochet was able to beat Bobby Lashley on television without worrying about a sneak attack from the champ.

If Lesnar wins, he'll defend his title against McIntyre at WrestleMania 36.

Last week the former UFC Champion crossed a significant milestone by surpassing 700 combined days as WWE Champion. Lesnar now has the sixth-most combined days with the title, but he'll need to hold it for another 320 days to surpass Pedro Morales and crack the top five. He already dominates the record books to the WWE Universal Championship with the most reigns (three), longest single reign (504 days) and most combined days as champion (688).