WWE recently sent its Lana and Rusev story back to the drawing board after TMZ reported that the two were never actually ever broken up and are now engaged. The on-screen story, of course, was that the couple had split and were in a love square with the Ghost of Entertaining Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae. In the past, the relationship being all good in real life wouldn’t matter too much. But we’re in the reality era, where the non-kayfabe facts matter and a couple can only pretend to be broken up for so long without everyone knowing.
Lana and Rusev’s relationship isn’t the first to go through major real-life storylines as on-screen drama played out. Here are some of the more memorable instances of kayfabe love interacting with shoot love.
Macho Man and Ms. Elizabeth – They’re easily the most famous and beloved couple in wrestling history, but their real-life relationship was tumultuous and abusive. It had been no secret that Savage was insecure about his marriage and would treat her like his heel person would treat her on-screen character. There are stories of him not wanting her to be spoken to in the locker room. He would be insanely paranoid, and his actions were a rare case when his on-screen attitude was actually a toned-down version of just how over the top he acted toward Elizabeth.
But here’s where things get even more bizarre: Savage and Elizabeth’s real-life marriage started really falling apart in the early ’90s while, at the same time, they were reuniting as lovers on-screen. WrestleMania VII saw them reunite after an on-screen break-up, all leading to a “marriage” at SummerSlam 1991. Then, in 1992, Ric Flair feuded with Macho Man in an angle centered around the hilarious WWF Magazine article posting “pictures” of Flair and Elizabeth dating before Macho Man met her, all culminating in a grudge match at WrestleMania VIII.
But here’s the problem… Elizabeth and Macho Man were going through a divorce the whole time. All of our favorite moments where the couple represented babyface love were lies.
Macho Man and Elizabeth even announced their divorce in the magazine, which was pretty unheard of at the time. The next stop was WCW, where their on-screen relationship was off-and-on while they were divorced. Elizabeth turned heel on Macho Man (in a role that she never seemed to really embrace) and joined Ric Flair. Then she joined the NWO, because of Hulk Hogan’s masculine magnetism, probably. Then she was back with Savage on-screen when he turned heel. All the while she started dating Lex Luger.
… which I won’t get into.
Chris Benoit – Woman – Kevin Sullivan – Okay, I’m not going to make light of this because things are about to get dark.
Nancy Toffoloni was a manager in WCW, being introduced as a nerdy Steiner fan who eventually became part of their crew. In 1990, she turned on the Steiners to join Kevin Sullivan, who she’d been married to since 1985. After a stint in ECW, Nancy — now named Woman — returned to WCW as a valet for the Four Horsemen. Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit were already in a blood feud, and Woman was added to make things more personal. WCW ran vignettes of Chris Benoit and Woman gloating over their on-screen affair. But, as is the case in wrestling, the on-screen affair turned into a real-life affair. Kevin Sullivan has been credited with “booking his own divorce” as Nancy essentially left him for Benoit.
The actual affair occurred while the two men were still actively feuding on-screen, so they had to pretend to fight while probably wanting to kill each other. Nancy would eventually leave wrestling and manage Benoit in real life, later marrying him. Benoit would stay in WCW until Kevin Sullivan took over the booking, causing him to leave to the WWF for fear of being buried.
The real-life feud was so real that some idiots think Benoit’s murder-suicide of his wife and son was somehow orchestrated by Sullivan.
Stephanie McMahon – Triple H – Chyna – This is another affair that was booked into reality. Chyna entered the WWF as Triple H’s valet, beating up women and men who got in his way. Eventually, Hunter and Chyna would have an off-screen relationship (as was documented in MTV’s True Life in the late ’90s). They’d be an on-screen duo while never actually acknowledging a romantic relationship. Then, in 1999, when Triple H was being pushed as a major heel and Chyna as a major babyface, they suddenly stopped appearing on TV together. They never had an on-screen break-up or anything. They just … stopped.
A few months later, Triple H would have a feud with Vince McMahon that would lead to a kayfabe relationship with Stephanie McMahon. The two, as heels, would be affectionate on camera and flirt off-camera. Depending on who you ask (Triple H and Stephanie), Triple H dated Stephanie shortly after he and Chyna broke up. If you ask literally everyone else, Triple H and Stephanie had an affair.
Triple H and Stephanie would later get married and become the WWE’s top power couple on-and off-camera. The situation with Chyna would take many different turns in the 15 or so years after Triple H left her for Stephanie. Chyna would eventually date Triple H’s Clique-buddy X-Pac. Their relationship would fall off the rails and Chyna would never be invited back to the WWE. When asked about her placement in the Hall of Fame, Triple H gave some really horrible answer about her not getting in because she did porn with X-Pac. Chyna has since accused Triple H of being abusive and gone on very saddening spiels about her life and past with Hunter.
This is probably the most high-profile real-life drama in wrestling.
Kurt Angle – Karen Jarrett – Jeff Jarrett – This is probably the only storyline in TNA that I ever paid half a bit of attention to, and nobody wrote it. Kurt Angle and Karen Angle were married from 1998 to 2008. She was with him through his WWE run all the way to his time in TNA. They eventually divorced in October 2008. Then, in 2009, it was revealed that Karen Angle was dating Jeff Jarrett and their relationship began when Kurt and Karen were separated. This all resulted in Jeff Jarrett being basically ousted from TNA because he lied about the relationship to Dixie Carter. In typical TNA fashion, this was all revealed on the Bubba The Love Sponge radio show.
Of course, the booking committee decided to turn this into an on-air feud when Jarrett returned in 2011. The storytelling in this feud made WWE look like nuanced art. Kurt Angle had to walk Karen down the aisle for a renewal of vows ceremony with Jeff Jarrett. Angle then brought in Chyna for a mixed tag match between the foursome. Everything was uncomfortable and awful. Nobody wanted to watch the story. Everyone just wanted it to end. It felt like when couples argue in public and make everything horrible for everyone else around.
Matt Hardy – Lita – Edge – Edge and Matt Hardy were best buds in WWE. They were part of the infamous Hardyz vs. Edge & Christian feuds on TV and developed a closeness outside the ring. They grew so close that when Matt Hardy went down with an injury, he entrusted Edge to be the guy to travel with his girlfriend, Lita. What’s the worst that could happen?
Well, the worst happened. Edge and Lita began having an affair, betraying Hardy’s trust and ending Edge’s marriage. Matt Hardy was even let go by WWE all around the same time. Meanwhile, on-screen Lita was in the middle of a relationship with Kane. But WWE saw dollar signs in exploiting real-life pain and agony, so they brought Matt Hardy back to feud with Edge. This created a weird dynamic where the company basically admitted that the Kane/Lita relationship was just for show, and the Edge/Matt Hardy feud was real. Little did Matt Hardy know, he was just brought in to get Edge over and looked like a loser the whole time. The fights were bloody and looked real enough, but Edge seemed to have the upper hand every time.
Both Edge and Lita have talked openly about how uncomfortable they were with the whole story, but went along with it anyway. Meanwhile, nobody loved Kane. :(
