17-time champion suffers injury ahead of WWE RAW

WWE is coming out of Saturday's Money In the Bank Premium Live Event and headed into The Biggest Event of The Summer. There are a few key stops on the road to SummerSlam, but now there's news of one veteran being sidelined with an injury.

Alpha Academy had been boiling over with tension until the faction disbanded on June 17. Chad Gable went too far in berating and bullying his stablemates, while laying hands on Akira Tozawa and Otis, and inadvertently injuring Maxxine Dupri.

The Alpha Academy members have moved on for the most part, with Tozawa wrestling two matches within the first week after the split - a loss to Nathan Frazer on WWE Speed, and a win over Joaquin Wilde on WWE Main Event.

The promotion has now pulled the 17-time WWE champion from the upcoming return to Japan due to an injury. World Wrestling Entertainment's Japanese media partner ABEMA announced that Tozawa and Asuka will not be appearing at the live events in Osaka on July 25, and Tokyo on July 26 and July 27.

The Sun Of The Ring last competed on July 1. He wrestled before RAW in a match taped for Main Event. The five-minute loss to Pete Dunne aired as the opener to Thursday's episode, but there seemed no sign or mention of an injury to Tozawa.

It's interesting to note that the official website still has The Empress of Tomorrow listed for all three shows. She is from Osaka. Asuka has been injured for a few months now, and an unfortunate update was recently leaked on her future.

We may know more about Tozawa's status after tonight's live episode of RAW. He was not on last week's show, and the week before featured a backstage segment where Tozawa, Otis, and Dupri reiterated that they were done with Master Gable.