Alpha Academy

On the March 13, 2023 episode of Raw, Gable found Otis backstage taking part in a photo shoot with Maximum Male Models (the team of ma.çé and mån.sôör, managed by Maxxine Dupri). Otis then decided to leave with Maximum Male Models instead of Gable.[15] This would start a series of segments between Dupri and Gable where they both wanted Otis to be on their respective teams.[16] Dupri officially sided with the Alpha Academy on the May 15 episode of Raw when she cheered on Otis and Gable eliminating ma.çé and mån.sôör in the Intercontinental Championship number one contenders' battle royal match.[17][18]

In the weeks that followed, Alpha Academy began to slowly turn face with their crowd reactions growing louder and louder. After weeks of training, Dupri made her in-ring debut on the July 3 episode of Raw in a mixed six-person tag team match with Gable and Otis against The Viking Raiders (Erik, Ivar and Valhalla). Dupri pinned Valhalla after performing a sunset flip on her.[19] On the July 10 episode of Raw, Alpha Academy held a graduation ceremony for Dupri. At the end of the ceremony, Gable presented Dupri with her own Alpha Academy letterman's jacket. As Dupri was about to put on the jacket, The Viking Raiders appeared on the ramp to distract the team. Valhalla then attacked Dupri from behind and stole her jacket.[20] In the following episode of Raw, Gable and Otis fought Erik and Ivar in a "Viking Rules" match. Despite dominating the match, Gable and Otis lost but Dupri managed to take back her jacket.[21] On the July 31 episode of Raw, Dupri defeated Valhalla with a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex in her debut singles match.[22] As the team was celebrating backstage, Imperium's Gunther took offense to Dupri's match win and mocked the team. Ludwig Kaiser then challenged Gable to last five minutes in the ring with Gunther, which Gable accepted. Despite Gable beating the clock, Gunther demanded the match to continue and defeated Gable.[23] On the August 7 episode of Raw, Gable defeated Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, and Ricochet in a fatal four-way match to be the number one contender to Gunther's Intercontinental Championship. Later that night, Otis lost to Kaiser after an interference from Imperium.[24] Two weeks later on Raw, Gable challenged Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship and won by countout. However, as championships do not change hands by countout or disqualification, Gunther remained champion.[25]

The group expanded with Akira Tozawa joining the stable and being assigned as a "junior member" in a Digital Exclusive before the October 23 episode of Raw.[26] In a bid to prove himself to the stable, Tozawa challenged Bronson Reed to a match but lost.[27] The following day, Tozawa appeared on Night 1 of NXT: Halloween Havoc and stole Noam Dar's NXT Heritage Cup.[28]