Quick Links
WWE has shown some impressive content the last number of years. Of course, not all of it was fantastic. We don't need to bring up Katie Vick, do we? Don't make us go there...we don't want to do it. Overall, WWE content has gone PG and has been there for a decade now. This has helped the company in connecting with the family audience instead of the 18-32 male demographic only. Now they have everyone in the market, which is helpful. They're building up more and more, despite being a company over 50 years old.
We know now that WWE has accepted a deal to begin airing WWE SmackDown Live on FOX starting in October of 2019. The family move certainly helped make this happen. So obviously they're becoming a bigger deal even more than they were before. For as long as we have known WWE, we have seen them bring drama to the screen as good as any soap opera. Pro-Wrestling is like a men's soap opera it seems, and that has been able to suck us in for years. Sometimes it's terrible, but when it is good...oh they're making us eat out of the palm of their hand.
One of the biggest things WWE loves to connect to would be stories involving men and women. While they do not wrestle each other any longer in WWE, they are in segments together quite often. WWE has many couples that are together in real-life, yet they have made couples for TV only too. In order to connect to female fans more, they were able to strike a deal with the E! Network to air Total Divas and eventually Total Bellas. These shows highlighted the women of WWE, but also a lot of the relationships. From simple BF/GF stuff to married WWE Superstars, the show contained it all.
This has been really useful to WWE and they have exploited the real-life relationships more than the fake ones. Yet there were couples on both ends that we knew were going to end the moment they came together. It just seemed too obvious to us. In this list, we're going to break those relationships down and explain why they would never last. Some did not, but some have succeeded despite what people assumed.
Edge And Vickie Guerrero
WWE Superstar Edge has been known for his relationships in WWE and one of the most popular might very well be his relationship with Vickie Guerrero. This was a couple only on television, of course. Vickie was married to the great Eddie Guerrero, who sadly passed away years before she made her way to TV full-time. WWE loved Eddie and his whole family, so bringing Vickie to TV made sense. She quickly managed to get over as a heel and was considered to be one of the only people who could get legitimate "heat" from fans. Meaning hatred from them. WWE made her, at one point, into the WWE SmackDown General Manager. Edge happened to be the top heel on the show.
Due to wanting to remain on top, he thought the best way to handle it was to find a way to rid the show of Teddy Long, the former SmackDown GM. He then got close to Vickie, which could allow him to manipulate her and use her to his advantage. She would give him World Title shots and rematches, despite not earning it or even being in contention for it. Under Vickie, Edge managed to see multiple World Titles and even managed to get The Undertaker banished from WWE. Of course, he strayed from Guerrero and she found out. As a woman scorned, she wanted to send him to hell for what he did. So she brought back The Undertaker and put Edge in a Hell in a Cell match where Taker chokeslammed him straight to the fire pit. Though he did come back, this is TV, people.
The Miz And Maryse
The Miz might be one of the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champions in history, but he was not always one of the most beloved WWE Superstars out there. For many years, Miz was seen as a douche who would be the most annoying thing you could ever see. He oozed being the popular guy in school who loved pranking people and saying "you even lift bro?" How the beautiful Maryse fell for him was anyone's guess it seems. However, the man Miz played on TV and what he portrayed outside the company was very different than who he really happened to be. When he changed up his gimmick, we started to see better but it did not seem like enough.
People claimed for some time that the two would break up. Maryse then left WWE, but the two remained together. They would get married, and eventually, Maryse would come back to WWE. The two never once worked together on screen, but in her comeback, they managed to do just that. She was essential to helping him reach new heights as IC Champ, and they just had their first child together a little over a month ago. While we're never going to see the original appeal for Maryse, we've now seen Miz as something more. The real Mike Mizanan(Miz) is a good person and a huge wrestling fan, like us. It was hard to separate the character from the man, so perhaps that was what Maryse was capable of doing.
Katie Lea Burchill And Paul Burchill
This is an old one, but it lasted long enough for people to remember it. WWE debuted a brother and sister team by the name of Katie Lea and Paul Burchill. They were good as a unit, as Paul was able to stand out somewhat as a singles wrestler with Katie as a manager. She also stood out in the ring. Both were from The UK, so putting them together in a brother and sister angle seemed like a good plan. Neither were really related, and that is likely a VERY good thing. When they first debuted the two, they added a disturbing romance angle for the pair. Paul would even say the words "whatever Katie wants, she gets" in the most cringe-worthy way you could think.
An interesting situation occurred, however. WWE, at the time, was under a TV-14 banner. With Linda McMahon about to run for a political office, and with no real competitor, Vince McMahon decided to go back to a PG show. This was done before the Attitude Era in the 90's, as the 80's and before were all PG. Due to going back to the PG format, Katie and Paul remained a unit on TV but the angle would be dropped. It did not fit the family-friendly direction WWE was headed for. However, fans hated the idea from the start and knew WWE could not keep it up for too much longer. The PG change gave them the perfect excuse to drop it. We're not upset that they did so. The two would remain with WWE for a while afterward. Yet they would never truly become long-term stars for the company.
Test And Kelly Kelly
Andrew "Test" Martin was a man WWE truly thought they had a star in. He was a big guy who happened to be athletic and could cut a relatively good promo. His work in the ring was not the best, but it kept improving. He would even be put with Stephanie McMahon in an On-TV romance, even almost getting married for TV too. Well, before Triple H interrupted it and claimed he already married Steph when she was drugged. We're serious, that actually happened. He never reached his potential but did hold a few titles in a mostly mid-card career for WWE. During his time, he dated a number of WWE Divas. One was Stacy Keibler, who many thought made sense considering their height situation.
The relationship did not work out, so he moved on and began to eventually date Barbie Blank, better known as Kelly Kelly. She would be signed and put right on the ECW roster on the SciFi Network by around 18. Yet she began dating the over 30-year-old Test, now a member of the ECW roster, shortly into her run there. She would be around 19, and the two would make ZERO sense. They would eventually break up, and Test would go on to work the indies while she remained in WWE. Sadly, Test would pass away a few years after leaving WWE. Kelly would write a very touching message regarding the love she had for him. Kelly is now married and featured on the E! Network, where her relationship is front and center.
Billy And Chuck
Years ago, there were very few tag team performers better than Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo. Both were tag champions before they met each other. Gunn was a tag champion with Bart Gunn and a multi-time tag champ with Road Dogg as part of The New Age Outlaws and D-X. Meanwhile, Chuck was a tag champ in WCW with Shawn Stasiak and Shawn O'Haire. He came over with his partner when WWE bought out WCW, and while it took time to find his footing...he found a great tag partner in Gunn. They could work better than most, and it became interesting to see what they could do.
Overall, they only held WWE Tag Gold twice together but held them for a long time on each reign. Their gimmick was that of good friends, but it was presented as if they were in love with each other. While there might not be anything wrong with this, the presentation was always assumed but never really said aloud. That was until a proposal happened and the two were set to get married on WWE SmackDown one night.
They would come out and act as if they were going to do it, and were very close. Then they would say "we are just friends." The wedding was interrupted by Eric Bischoff and 3 Minute Warning from WWE RAW anyway, and they would be attacked. WWE weddings never go to plan it seems.
Enzo Amore And Liv Morgan
When fans first heard about these two, everyone was wondering how it was possible. Enzo Amore is kind of your classic Jersey guy. But he is the living embodiment of a cheap Jersey Shore rip-off. Morgan is from New Jersey herself. So Enzo and Liv connected on this premise. However, Enzo was on the road a lot with the main roster while Morgan was not. Liv was working with WWE NXT only at the time. Enzo loves to party, and it is well known that he tries to get with a girl in every town. Apparently, partying, and what people tend to do when they party affects your judgment. We know, we were shocked too. So the ladies see him as a good thing one night due to this and that gets him what he wants.
Morgan heard about all the rumours and the two eventually broke up. Most of us knew this relationship was never going to last. Everyone knew how Enzo was, and Liv should have known too. But she's young, and ladies sometimes do not see what a guy truly is at a young age. Today, Liv is only 23. She began dating Enzo at around 21. Meanwhile, Enzo is over 30. He was always near a decade older than her, and that sort of thing can attract some women....depending on who it is. Morgan made a dumb choice and she knows that now, but fans knew it from the start. Sometimes it takes some sort of wake-up call for people to see it, and cheating is a pretty good one.
Santino Marella And Beth Phoenix
Santino Marella is likely one of the best comedic characters the company has ever produced. The man himself was not always supposed to be this. He had a fake Italian accent that made him come off sort of as a jokester. He was never truly taken seriously, so when the idea came through to make him into a comedy act...it made sense. He worked very well there. Then WWE eventually came up with the plan to put Beth Phoenix with him. She was named "The Glamazon" by WWE due to her beauty and Amazonian-like abilities in the ring. She was the perfect straight-man, or straight-woman, to the joking Santino. The two would be successful together as a team, with both winning titles.
The two were put together as a couple on screen, but most often treated them as a comedy duo rather than a kissing couple. They did not stay together, of course. Beth even went on to marry another WWE Superstar. On TV though, Santino and Beth were together for a long time and WWE loved the team so much that they seemed to never truly "end" it. They simply stopped appearing together and the brand split helped to force the official break even more so.
Alexa Bliss And Buddy Murphy
To most, Alexa Bliss ranks as one of the most beautiful WWE Female Superstars of all-time. While she might hold this for a long time, she is also very impressive in the ring and on the mic. She reminds many of Trish Stratus for a very clear reason, and most enjoy seeing her perform. She ultimately got her start on WWE NXT, and truly stood out as a heel when she began to manage the NXT tag team known as Blake and Murphy. Both were impressive workers and even held the NXT Tag Titles. They did not seem to last when Alexa was shipped to the main roster. While Blake and Murphy did not last, Alexa and Buddy Murphy did. Buddy was impressive on his own, but he had some trouble standing out.
He needed more development while Bliss was destroying on the main roster. Most felt their relationship made no sense, and their distance would end the relationship. There was even rumored issues between the two as Murphy seemed to have issues with Bliss' real-life best friend, Nia Jax. But things seemed to get a bit better. He was finally brought up to the WWE 205 Live show and Cruiserweight division for WWE RAW. He has done well so far and the future could be good for him. The couple is now engaged and it looks more likely than ever that they'll last despite what fans assumed.
AJ Lee And Daniel Bryan
When AJ Lee first found her way to Daniel Bryan on television, a lot of people were surprised by the move. Many people liked them both as they were fan favorites. AJ had worked the Women's Season of NXT. Meanwhile, Bryan was getting over as a fun babyface. He had been a champion and was a useful hand as part of WWE SmackDown. He would cash in Money in the Bank and become the World Heavyweight Champion as well. Then he paired with AJ Lee. She was the only WWE Diva, at the time, that was much smaller than Bryan. Daniel is a man who stands at maybe 5'8. AJ is possibly 5'2 on a good day. That said, she fit as a useful manager while he was a heel champion.
She loved him as a TV boyfriend but he took advantage of her love. It was a relationship made out of desperation for Bryan, who may have loved her before but no longer. She was now a tool or asset. Yet she saw it as a real relationship. At least, this was how it was presented to us. Then she kissed Bryan at WrestleMania and he turned into a kick by Sheamus to lose the title in 18 seconds. They broke up soon after. AJ was hurt by this and became the WWE RAW General Manager soon after. This allowed AJ to put Bryan through hell. Imagine being an ex and taking out your frustration on the person who did you wrong. That said, it was a great story that only served to help both characters.
Paige And Alberto Del Rio
Paige has been in the news a lot the last year due to photo and video leaks that are clearly not PG. However, she has been in the news even more for her relationship with former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio, now going by Alberto El Patron on the Indies. Del Rio got together with Paige in his last run in WWE. The two are pretty far in age difference, around 20 years or so. On top of this, Alberto was not divorced from his wife before getting with Paige. The two were married in Mexico, so their marriage did not matter in the United States or the UK where Paige is from. Paige and Del Rio would get engaged. Paige even did the asking, as weird as it seems. Their relationship seemed unhealthy from the start though. They were constantly in the news.
Paige was out of WWE at the time due to an injury, a serious neck one at that. Del Rio and Paige both failed substance tests in WWE during the time. Paige failed 2 back to back, with one being an illegal drug. They would get into a domestic issue that was caught on camera at an airport where Paige would hit Alberto. We later found that Paige claimed to have been hit. Her family wrote on Facebook how she was treated badly on every level imaginable. Del Rio left WWE then constantly spoke negative about it and for Paige, despite the fact that she was still working with WWE. He was trying all he could to get her fired. Eventually, the two broke up after a toxic relationship. Fans were right from the start on this being a bad idea for a relationship.
Carmella And James Ellsworth
While the usual thing in pro-wrestling is to have a male wrestler find a woman to help him win matches from the outside, the opposite happened in this case. WWE paired little James Ellsworth with the gorgeous Carmella. The idea was that he would help him win matches by getting involved in them. The women constantly attacked and beat up James as a result, but his interference helped Carmella. So much so, he was the reason she won the first ever female Money in the Bank. Not once, but twice in fact. She has since cashed it in to become WWE SmackDown Live Women's Champion. Their pairing ultimately seemed nuts. In real-life, Carmella was dating Big Cass who was sadly on the shelf nursing an ACL injury.
Ellsworth and Carmella were an official couple on TV, but it was clearly to help Carmella win matches and find ways around the rules. Ellsworth often was taken on a leash by Carmella, almost like some sort of crazed PG version of something a bit more insane. James rarely got any loving by Carmella on screen. While there was an occasional kiss, it was nothing much. That said, their relationship never seemed like it would last and it was always meant to be short-term. James would eventually be released by WWE, as they chose not to renew his contract last Fall. Carmella is now having to win on her own, and she has seemingly been doing well with that. James happens to be doing well himself, as he is now calling himself the World Intergender Champion and has been challenging the best female wrestlers on the independent scene to come for the title.
Rusev And Lana
Lana is an absolutely stunning woman. If you ever see her, you would assume God made a mold that created Lana, throwing away all others due to the fact that he made perfection and could do nothing better. She stunned the moment she came to TV and has been terrific on the mic. Lana's real name is CJ Perry and has been part of a number of TV shows and movies over the years, which meant her mic work for promos would easily be good for her. While most girls like Lana would use WWE as a launching pad to further acting, she fell in love. She fell for the man she managed, Rusev. Of course, most did not understand this.
You look at Lana and then look at Rusev, and do not comprehend why she chose him. So fans naturally felt it would not work. Even Vince McMahon did not get it himself and seemed to try to split them up. He tried by splitting them on TV and putting her with Dolph Ziggler in a romantic storyline. Lana hated it so much that she leaked a photo of herself and Rusev with an engagement ring on her finger to TMZ, who published it promptly. She clearly loves Rusev, and that made fans truly take notice. We then learned more about Rusev as fans, and many started to see what Lana saw. Rusev was a good dude, funny, and charming. Obviously, he was in great shape, but she did not care about his look. Rather, she loved his personality. We could understand it later, and now the two have a home together in Nashville, Tennessee and are happily married. Rusev gives many men hope that they can land someone like Lana, and he's become somewhat of a hero.
Triple H And Stephanie McMahon
Most fans should be forgiven for assuming these two would be broken up by now. WWE originally paired Triple H with Stephanie McMahon as part of a storyline. He married her while she was intoxicated, and then revealed it to her during her TV marriage to Test before they said the "I Do's." They would eventually become an on-screen couple as Stephanie betrayed her father and would go bad, siding with the heel and resident bad boy your daddy warned you about, Triple H. They would develop a romance off TV too. It would be a top star with the boss' daughter, and that did not go well backstage. Fans did not like it and neither did Vince McMahon. He was okay with them dating then wasn't, it went back and forth.
Eventually, Vince saw how much she loved Triple H and how much The Game loved her. This made him want to rethink things. The two would be married on TV and even divorced. But in real-life, they would eventually tie the knot and now have 3 daughters together. Both work in management positions in WWE, still married. They seem to be a terrific couple and have a very healthy marriage, which for people in positions like the ones they have is pretty amazing. They are both busy but make time for each other and their kids. Time management needs to be a course the two can teach at a university somewhere.
John Cena And Nikki Bella
The two have been in the news a lot lately, but for many years they seemed like a happy couple. Cena dated off and on for years but never could be held down by one woman. The reason for this was likely due to his first marriage. He married his high school girlfriend and then end up getting divorced a few years later. It hurt him a lot. He was busy and it made dating hard especially relationships. But then Nikki Bella came along. A wrestler herself, she was used to the long travel and time away. Yet she could be on the road with Cena all the time and then still be okay without him due to understanding his schedule better than most. While Cena swore he would never get married again, he broke that Cena rule.
He asked Nikki to marry him at WrestleMania 32 in front of everyone. Most felt the relationship was fake despite it all. Many thought Bella was trying to get a better position in WWE an entertainment by using Cena to sleep her way to the top. This could not be further from the truth, however. Cena and Bella would break up though, yet Cena said something that made many of us shed a tear. He said he wants to marry Nikki and even give her children, something she wanted and he also swore he would not do. He loves her so much that he is willing to do all of this for her, which makes us want to find some tissues. The two are reportedly back together, but we will have to wait and see how it goes.
Edge And Lita
Oh, the Edge and Lita story...where do we start? Matt Hardy and Lita were a couple both on and off-screen. They were together for years and seemed quite happy. So much so, wedding bells seemed to be getting closer for the two. But in the mid-2000's, an issue occurred. Lita had just gotten back from her neck injury and then Matt ended up having a serious leg injury. She would be around him early on, but of course being a WWE Diva..she had to get back to work. Matt would come back later, of course. But for now, he was too hurt to wrestle. Edge was good friends with the Hardy brothers and Lita, so when Edge offered Lita a ride from town to town as a road buddy...it made sense to them both.
Of course, this did not stop at buddies. Lita ended up starting a relationship with Edge. Funny enough, Edge was married to someone at the time. Matt would find out about it and slam them hard online, and Edge would then get divorced. WWE would put Edge with Lita on TV, putting her in revealing clothes. McMahon loved real life tension, so he would bring back Matt Hardy and have the two work out a program on TV together. Understand that for a second. Matt has to do a match with the man his GF had a relationship with behind his back, and then not actually attempt to hurt him for real. Edge and Lita would be fine for a while but break up less than a year later. Edge is now married to former WWE Diva Beth Phoenix and has some kids. Lita, however, is currently single.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEq6CcoJWowW%2BvzqZmrKifp8G0ecSnq56qpJa2r7nEp6toaWVivbC81KWYq2WnrLJur86up6Wdo2LBqa3TZp2apqNiu6bCxKtkraCfqrSpwIywpq6klGK5or%2FTaA%3D%3D