WWE has announced that Shinsuke Nakamura has suffered an injury and will not be able to compete on tonight’s episode of Smackdown Live, where he was set to face the “Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship.

At this point Nakamura’s injury is undisclosed and it’s unknown how long he’ll be off television, if he has to miss any time at all. It’s worth noting that there’s a very, very good possibility that the “injury” is completely story-driven, and WWE is just setting up an angle for tonight’s show. The plan right now is still for Hardy to defend the U.S. title against Nakamura at next month’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

While the “King of Strong-Style” won’t be competed for the blue brand this evening, Jeff Hardy will still defend his title in an Open Challenge for anyone on the Smackdown roster to answer. We’ll have full coverage kicking off at 8/7c.

EXCLUSIVE: Unfortunately, @ShinsukeN sustained an injury last night and is not medically cleared to compete. However, #USChampion @JEFFHARDYBRAND will issue a #USOpenChallenge TONIGHT on #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/1wefUTFRRM

— WWE (@WWE) June 26, 2018