Bengaluru, February 24: Drew McIntyre, the flag-bearer of Monday Night RAW had a rare absence from the show, this week even though he's doing physically okay.

The toughest win of his WWE career came this past Sunday night when he overcame five other opponents inside that brutal Elimination Chamber. But the afterward assault from Bobby Lashley was too much to handle.

This eventually paved the way for The Miz to successfully cash-in his Money in the Bank contract and pick up the WWE Title for the second time in his career. While he was all over Raw, this week, the former champion wasn’t seen. As a matter of fact, he was barely mentioned on the show raising speculations about his current status.

Apparently, there was nothing but a storyline reason for his absence. WWE had to set up a title match between Bobby Lashley and The Miz, next week on RAW that could leave a high impact on the Road to WrestleMania 37. This build wouldn’t have been very easy if Drew McIntyre was around.

The Scottish Warrior would simply go after The Miz that must have ruined his championship celebration. Plus, Bobby Lashley moving into the title picture, could've been affected, too.

The creative team decided not to go with any angle that would remove McIntyre from the building, given the repetitiveness and predictability of the instance. Instead, they just simply didn’t book him on Raw, at all.

As of this writing, no injury was reported, that could keep McIntyre away because of medical clearance. Dave Meltzer further discussed WWE’s logic of keeping McIntyre away via the latest reports on Wrestling Observer Radio.

“No mention of his name pretty much. Well, I think that the feeling is that if he was on the show then he’d have to kill Miz and they didn’t want him killing Miz this week, because what would you do with him on the show if your direction was Lashley getting a title shot next week?”

“I mean the thing is him being there would have been a negative because then you’ll be going, 'Why didn’t he get a title shot? And why isn’t he beating up Miz immediately because he’s the one who got screwed. Why isn’t he beating up Lashley for screwing him?” (Transcription by Ringside News)

PWInsider additionally reports that the two-time WWE Champion was present, backstage during RAW this week. He wasn’t given the night off in terms of showing up to work, but he wasn’t simply needed. There's no update on whether WWE would bring him back on TV, next week or he will receive time to enjoy in the catering, for two weeks in a row.

It should be noted that Drew McIntyre isn't moving away from the WWE Title picture, anytime soon. WrestleVotes reports the King of Claymore Country is still booked for one of the main events of WrestleMania 37. So, he will soon be gunning for the coveted prize that The Miz snatched away from him using the MITB contract.