Breaking Down WWE's Most Controversial, Shocking Stories for the Week of Sept. 1

Roman Reigns and John Cena messed around and stole every wrestling headline in what was one of the most controversial weeks of 2017. The feud kicked off at ground zero of fan hostility inside Barclays Center, but as recently predicted, the two shook off their rough start and are well on their way to one of the more memorable feuds in WWE history.

WWE's summer of title changes continued, as Sasha Banks once again failed to defend her Raw Women's Championship. But her surprising title loss was hardly the most controversial women's wrestling storyline of the week.

Sexy Star Shoots on Rosemary, Becomes a Pro Wrestling Pariah

At one of pro wrestling's most prestigious events, Triplemania XXV, Sexy Star made waves when she used a stiff armbar to pop GFW star Rosemary's arm out of its socket, per PWInsider.com (h/t Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc).

Sexy Star inflicted the injury in what was a bizarre Fatal 4-Way match, and it has reverberated throughout the wrestling world, with everybody from Brian "Road Dogg" James to Cody Rhodes denouncing the now-infamous female star.

Despite its almost 25 years of history, simply searching for "Triplemania" online will produce story after story pertaining to the incident. Rosemary issued a statement on the incident through her Twitter account (h/t Giri), stating: "If you take liberties with someone's body when they are giving it to you and trusting you to keep them safe, you are not tough. You are an assh--e. And you don't belong in this business."

On its website, GFW followed up with a statement of its own, confirming both Sexy Star and AAA had issued apologies on the matter (h/t Giri).

An emotional Sexy Star responded during a reality show but stopped short of an apology after noting she would remain quiet until the time was right.

Broken Up Hardys?

As the novelty of The Hardy Boyz slowly wears off, fans have been waiting patiently for any sign of the reincarnation of the Broken Hardys. Both Matt and Jeff have teased the cult gimmick, seemingly walking right up to the line of intellectual property as they continue to battle GFW for the rights to the personas.

WWE seems content to move on, however, as Jeff Hardy won a 15-man Battle Royal on Monday to earn a shot at The Miz's Intercontinental Championship. Hardy has had massive success as a singles performer, even winning both the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships. In 2008, Hardy was one of the hottest babyfaces of the modern era before being derailed by substance-abuse issues, per WWE.com.

Meanwhile, Matt Hardy, who always had a pronounced ceiling as a singles star in WWE, was eliminated unceremoniously and could be something of a casualty should Jeff Hardy pick up where he left off in WWE as a top singles performer.

This could set the stage for the same Hardy vs. Hardy feud that led to the highly successful Final Deletion special. Unfortunately, with all this legal red tape, as Justin Barrasso of SI.com detailed, that ship may have sailed.

Xavier Woods, Samoa Joe and the Return of WWE's Injury Bug

WWE had an unfortunate run of high-profile injuries this week, but fortunately, they seem to be of the short-term variety. On a recent UpUpDownDown video, New Day member Xavier Woods revealed he sprained his MCL but should not miss longer than a month of action.

Meanwhile, a sudden knee injury to Samoa Joe caused last-minute changes to Monday's Raw broadcast, per PWInsider.com (h/t Giri). This, just days after Big Cass suffered a freak knee injury that resulted in a torn ACL.

With so many 15-year veterans of the independent and international circuit in house, WWE has enough to worry about when it comes to injury risk. But the recent string of injuries to younger stars like Cass and Woods are simply adding salt to that wound. Hopefully all enjoy full, speedy recoveries.

John Cena Shows Up Roman Reigns in Epic Promo Battle

John Cena and Roman Reigns went face-to-face on Monday in one of the most talked-about segments of 2017. After losing the hipster vote in Brooklyn, New York, John Cena and Roman Reigns broke out the dog whistles to drop every inside reference they could think of. 

Right on cue, the Pavlovian wrestling hipsters ate it up faster than a small plate of artisan cheese at an independent coffee shop. 

From burials to heel turns, no stone was left unturned. In the end, John Cena's superior mic skills shone through, namely when Reigns forgot one of his lines and he pounced. 

Reigns was no slouch, either, especially considering the promo exchange used the typical format wherein one WWE Superstar calls Cena a part-timer and Cena gets the last word and the mic-drop moment. It was all very entertaining. And moving forward, Reigns is going to have to either sink or swim against one of the all-time best.

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