WWE's Most Controversial and Shocking Stories for the Week of June 16

In a week that included everything from a scandalous split, to big men brawling, to an anticipated announcement—and with the NBA Finals finally out of the way—this could be the week where WWE sees a ratings rally. 

Bray Wyatt Headed for Divorce

Bray Wyatt will be joining a slew of past and present WWE top stars in the ranks of the unwed as his wife, Samantha Rotunda, reportedly filed for divorce this past week, per the Daily Mail (h/t Wrestling Inc). 

The split seems anything but amicable and is made even more scandalous by claims from Rotunda that Wyatt had been involved in an adulterous relationship with Raw ring announcer JoJo Offerman. Wyatt has refuted what he refers to as "defamatory" claims.  

Sadly, and as I noted in a recent piece for Forbes, divorce is quite common among WWE Superstars at the highest level, but former divorcees such as John Cena, Randy Orton and even Hulk Hogan have managed to find love yet again. The most recent, and possibly most noteworthy, example came at WrestleMania 33 when Cena, who split from his ex-wife Liz in 2012, proposed to longtime girlfriend Nikki Bella.

SummerSlam 2017: The Roman Reigns Roulette 

Roman Reigns did not appear on Raw this past week, which drew the lowest viewership total of the year, per ShowBuzz Daily (h/t Wrestling Inc), up against a rare Monday NBA Finals game, but WWE did tease a big announcement from the Big Dog come SummerSlam on August 20. 

Speculation has led to potentially mouthwatering matchups. With free agent John Cena set to return on July 4, could this finally be the year these two top stars have their very first one-on-one matchup? 

It's possible WWE keeps a Reigns-Cena dream match in its pocket for a future WrestleMania, the same way it's slow-playing a seemingly inevitable showdown between Reigns and Lesnar. 

The most likely winner of the Reigns Roulette could be Braun Strowman, but with the Monster Among Men set to return any minute now, per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc), with a rumored match against Lesnar on deck, Reigns-Strowman is more plausible for the July 9 Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view. 

So what SummerSlam announcement from Reigns can possibly be worth all this hype? Between Enzo and Cass' attackers and Kurt Angle's smartphone, WWE is really going all-in on this whole mystery gimmick.

Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar: Great Brawl of Fire

Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar furthered their impressive feud with a highly physical pull-apart brawl. The formula has been used to success in the past with Brock Lesnar, who has been in believable, locker-room clearing brawls with Cena and The Undertaker. 

The important takeaway here was Joe looked to be on equal footing with Lesnar, even getting the better of The Beast with a late kick in the face. WWE continues to build Joe-Lesnar as a clash of the titans, with two equals set to do battle in the same vein as the successful Goldberg-Lesnar feud that culminated with what was the most exciting match at WrestleMania 33. 

The formula for booking Lesnar seems to have become standardized: a locker-room clearing brawl, a live Paul Heyman promo, a UFC-style promo and a thrilling conclusion (unless you're WWE's black hole known as Dean Ambrose). 

The formula hasn't failed yet, so expectations should remain high for Great Balls of Fire.

Is New Japan Pro Wrestling a Threat to WWE?

In a week where WWE saw back-to-back nights where both Raw and SmackDown drew annual low viewership numbers, per ShowBuzz Daily (h/t Wrestling Inc), New Japan Pro Wrestling seems to be getting as hot as it has ever been. Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada somehow outdid their match-of-the-year candidate from the January 4 Tokyodome show as part of the critically acclaimed Dominion show. 

New Japan Pro Wrestling couldn't have picked a better time to catch fire as the promotion plans on running a series of sold-out shows, per F4WOnline, in Long Beach, California, to continue plans of expanding in the North American market. 

WWE is a wounded giant on the wrong side of a cyclical ratings cycle, but ratings have eroded every year since 2012 as has been reported by several outlets, including PWTorch. And while some can easily argue that the quality of wrestling is superior in NJPW, it's hardly a threat to WWE's monopolistic empire. 

New Japan World has an estimated 50,000 subscribers, compared to 1.5 million for WWE Network per WWE.com, per Wrestling Inc, and as WWE goes, so will pro wrestling. If anything, NJPW needs to begin rooting for some form of WWE resurgence if it looks to continue its steady growth into the states.

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.