10 Cringeworthy Moments Featuring Real-Life Wrestling Couples In Storylines

In pro wrestling, reality can pretty much always become fodder for kayfabe. Over the years, fans have seen injuries and backstage drama incorporated into storylines as well as aspects of wrestlers’ personal lives. When two wrestlers are in a relationship, the odds of said relationship becoming incorporated into a pro wrestling storyline increase drastically.

RELATED: 13 On-Screen WWE Couples That Ended Up Together In Real Life

While sometimes real-life relationships becoming kayfabe can result in great stuff like Randy Savage’s possessiveness over Miss Elizabeth resulting in him betraying Hulk Hogan, it can also result in some seriously cringeworthy moments. Let’s take a look at 10 of these questionable uses of real-life couples in wrestling, from WWE and beyond.

10 Lana Leaves Rusev For Bobby Lashley

While they seem to be happily married in real life, Rusev (now known as Miro) and Lana (now CJ Perry) have had quite the tumultuous relationship in kayfabe, with their relationship hitting several stumbling blocks. In 2019, the union of Rusev and Lana hit an astonishing nadir in WWE thanks to an awkward angle where Lana was cheating on Rusev with Bobby Lashley, leading to an on-screen divorce. Making matters weirder was Rusev’s increased detachment from the whole angle as he drew closer to his 2020 departure from WWE.

9 Vince McMahon Makes Out With Trish Stratus In Front Of Linda McMahon

Back when he was a more active participant in WWE storylines in the Attitude Era and the Ruthless Aggression Era, Vince McMahon often had various members of the female roster at his side, including Trish Stratus in the early 2000s. At the time, McMahon’s real-life wife Linda was in a kayfabe catatonic/vegetative state, and so Vince seemed free to do whatever he wanted, including a particularly bizarre moment where Vince and his mistress made out in graphic manner. It was so weird to watch that it felt like McMahon was acting out his fantasies rather than taking part in a pro wrestling storyline.

8 The Edge/Lita/Matt Hardy Love Triangle

Sometimes real-life incidents involving personal relationships get roped into kayfabe, and the results can be more than a little uncomfortable. In 2005, Matt Hardy found out that his real-life girlfriend Lita was cheating on him with Edge, and the resulting kerfuffle resulted in Hardy getting fired from WWE.

RELATED: The Real Life Drama Between WWE Legends Matt Hardy, Lita & Edge, Explained

The seemingly unfair treatment of Hardy earned him a lot of grassroots support from WWE fans, resulting in the company rehiring him and using real life as the basis for a feud between Hardy and Edge/Lita, leading to Matt Hardy cutting some cringeworthy promos that made him look bad even before Edge defeated him in matches.

7 Brandi Defends Cody From Jade

Jade Cargill became quite the sensation even before she jumped ship from AEW to WWE, but her initial introduction left a lot to be desired. Interrupting a Cody Rhodes promo, Cargill delivered a stilted speech basically challenging him to a match on behalf of basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal — shocking given what a great talker Jade evolved into. From there, Cody’s wife Brandi Rhodes showed up to dress down Cargill in a matter that some fans took issue with.

6 Cora Jade Consoles Trey Baxter

When WWE rebooted NXT into the regrettable NXT 2.0, it resulted in the developmental promotion throwing all sorts of new characters and gimmicks at the wall, including on-screen/real-life couple Cora Jade and Trey Baxter (a.k.a. Blake Christian). In one segment, Jade consoled Baxter about some embarrassing losses, telling him he was a superhero in between kisses. It seemed to be setting up some kind of comic booky gimmick change for the high flying Baxter, but he was released from the company before anything came to fruition.

5 Pro Wrestler Candice LeRae Is Powerless To Rescue Her Husband

Despite all the social progress made in wrestling over the past decade, it’s still surprisingly common to see wives play damsels in distress to their pro wrestling husbands, which becomes an even weirder look when said wives are wrestlers themselves. On a March 2023 episode of NXT, Aussie heel Grayson Waller showed up at rival Johnny Gargano’s house, brawling with Gargano in the front yard. Meanwhile, Gargano’s wife Candice LeRae watched helplessly during the brutal attack, which seemed especially wild because LeRae is not only a wreslter, but one who made her career in intergender matches.

4 Eric Bischoff Makes Out With Macho Man’s Ex-Wife

The relationship between Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth seemed to have its ups and downs in both real life and in kayfabe, but by the time they were both in WCW in the late 1990s, the pair had divorced and moved on. But that didn’t mean the end of their kayfabe interactions.

RELATED: A Complete Timeline Of Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth's Relationship In WWE & WCW

By mid-1998, Savage was at odds with former nWo compatriots Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, who had aligned themselves with Macho’s ex-wife. This was revealed in a bizarre segment where Eric Bischoff kissed Elizabeth on screen while Savage shouted about how he’d gotten over her a long time ago.

3 Seth & Becky Team Up

Modern WWE loves to have real-life couples team up in mixed tag team matches, and in 2019 it seemed like an especially enticing prospect, as Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch weren’t only wildly popular babyfaces, but also the top champions in the company. As a result, they were booked into a feud with Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans, leading to a mixed tag team match at Extreme Rules. At the time, Corbin and Evans were disliked performers rather than hated heels, so the result was less than stellar.

2 Beth Phoenix & Edge Are Threatened By Seth Rollins For Some Reason

Speaking of Seth Rollins, by 2021 he was a deranged maniac sort of heel, one not above breaking into an opponent’s house to play some mind games. The opponent in question was Edge, who scrambled to deal with Rollins broadcasting live from his home. While Edge scrambled to make sure his wife took their kids to safety, fans were quick to remember that Edge’s wife was Beth Phoenix, herself way more of an imposing powerhouse wrestler than Rollins.

1 The WrestleMania Match To Determine The Best Power Couple

Even more enticing than a real-life couples tagging together is two real-life couples tagging together, which happened at WrestleMania 33. On the road to WWE’s biggest show of 2017, The Miz and Maryse got into a feud with John Cena and Nikki Bella over who was the top power couple of WWE. It wasn’t the most exciting set-up for a match, and the bout itself wasn’t much to write home about. Once the babyfaces got the win, John Cena proposed to Nikki Bella in the ring in a moment that became more cringey in the aftermath, as the relationship didn’t work out.