The 12 Most Entertaining On-Screen Couples In WWE History
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Valentine's Day may only come around once a year, but WWE has given fans around the world several entertaining on-screen couples worth rooting for over the last 30-plus years. These couples can come to be in a variety of ways. Some are based on real-life relationships. Others, such as Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, started in front of the camera before their natural chemistry led to a real-life romance. Meanwhile, for every Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, there are several more on-screen wrestling couples who do not and did not have any romantic affiliation behind the scenes and merely did what they were asked to do as performers.
Like most aspects of pro wrestling, the entertainment factor is key. No matter where a wrestling couple stands with one another when the red light turns off, an impactful pairing in front of the camera means a chance to be immortalized in the eyes of wrestling fans.
Here are 12 of the most entertaining on-screen couples in WWE, in no particular order.
Edge & Lita
Edge and Lita becoming an on-screen couple on "Monday Night Raw" served as the long-term payoff to a storyline involving Lita, Kane, and Lita's ex-boyfriend Matt Hardy. Kane initially won the right to wed Lita at "SummerSlam 2004" in a 'Til Death Do Us Part match, a stipulation which has not been seen since in WWE. Though Lita was initially disgusted by Kane and the lengths he would go to get the things he wanted (such as her), she wound up falling for the monster after he defended her from an attack by Gene Snitsky that ultimately caused her to miscarry their "child." The interaction ultimately turned Kane face, making him and Lita a babyface couple, though this would be short-lived as Lita turned on Kane in 2005, costing him the Gold Rush Tournament finals against Edge — her real-life boyfriend at the time.
The Edge and Lita pairing pushed the envelope on a weekly basis with prolonged make out sessions and later a live sex celebration in the main event segment on "Raw." With Edge being dubbed "The Rated-R Superstar" during this stretch, WWE sought to make Edge a credible main event heel with Lita acting as a magnet for heat. Real-life drama made Edge's heel ascent easier when mainstream fans became aware of the sordid details behind a real-life love triangle between Edge, Lita, and Matt Hardy during an episode of "Byte This."
As entertaining of a couple as the duo made, Edge told Kurt Angle in an appearance on "The Kurt Angle Show" he enjoyed very little about the storyline with Hardy specifically. Little is known about precisely when the couple decided to call it quits in real life, but they quietly went their separate ways on television following Edge's feud with John Cena.
Otis & Mandy Rose
As far as odd couples go, few can compare to Otis and Mandy Rose. Prior to meeting Otis on screen, Rose, a heel at the time, had a partner of the tag team variety in Sonya Deville. When Otis encountered Rose throughout 2019, the Heavy Machinery member would outwardly express his approval of what he saw, calling Rose his "peach." While Rose at first rebuffed Otis' off-the-cuff romantic gestures, she later gifted Otis a ham and a Christmas kiss as part of the "SmackDown Secret Santa" on the December 20, 2019 episode of the show. From there, Otis and Rose's hilarious interactions would begin to escalate, as well as Deville's contempt and jealousy of the soon-to-be couple.
As Rose recalled in an interview with Chris Van Vliet, she originally pitched the idea of a storyline with Otis to former WWE executive Vince McMahon. With Otis gaining a reputation as one of the most organically hilarious members of the "SmackDown" roster and Rose developing into a future cornerstone of the women's division, the pairing quickly got over. Otis began assisting Rose in her matches as Dolph Ziggler began to enter the picture as a potential homewrecker in the Otis-Rose equation. It would later come to light that Deville was behind Ziggler's romantic advances, as she grew immediately jealous of her tag team partner growing fond of anyone else. The big reveal came two days before WrestleMania 36, and while Otis would take out his frustrations on Ziggler at the event in his very first WrestleMania appearance, he also got the girl in the end, with Rose dissolving her tag team with Deville.
Goldust & Marlena
Dustin Rhodes' commitment to the Goldust character is stuff of legend, but Marlena, his valet, also had a major hand in the character getting off on the right foot. Marlena, who is also known to wrestling fans under her real name of Terri Runnels, was married to Rhodes for six years between 1993 and 1999 and managed Goldust for the first three years of the character's run on television. While Goldust portrayed a tortured, androgynous character from the movie industry, Marlena played a mysterious entertainment manager who did little more than smoke cigars from ringside during her husband's matches in the early years. The mysterious, quiet demeanor of the Marlena character, however, made for a great complement to Goldust, and her presence only made her husband a bigger deal in the eyes of WWE fans.
The real-life husband and wife's television involvement escalated when Brian Pillman entered the picture, feuding with Goldust over his valet. Pillman tragically passed away, however, with Runnels revealing in a Q&A with the Baltimore Sun that Marlena would have eventually left Goldust to be with Pillman in a permanent capacity had the Loose Cannon lived. Instead, the characters quietly went their separate ways. Goldust replaced Marlena with Luna Vachon while Marlena was repackaged under her real name.
The existence of these characters during The Attitude Era caused WWE to push the envelope with them in more ways than one. The duo conducted a small handful of out-of-character interviews with Jim Ross in 1997, one of which saw Goldust "dump" his wife on live television. Rhodes and Runnels would not actually divorce until 1999.
Booker T & Sharmell
Booker T first met his real-life spouse, Sharmell Sullivan, in WCW when she was a member of WCW's Nitro Girl dance troupe. The two entered a relationship in 2000, though they would not be involved in any storylines together until 2005, ironically the year they married. Though she debuted as a face valet for her husband, she proved to be the catalyst for his heel turn after she started interfering in his matches, supposedly unbeknownst to him. After turning heel, the husband and wife pairing came into their own as an on-screen couple and started feuding with The Boogeyman.
Sharmell's strong reactions to the Boogeyman character made for great heel comedy, as it would typically lead to over the top reactions out of her husband to his WrestleMania 22 opponent's supernatural tendencies. The Boogeyman defeated Booker T that night, kissing Sharmell with a mouth full of worms. When The Boogeyman angle ran its course, Booker T won the 2006 King of the Ring tournament, christening himself as "King Booker" and his wife as "Queen Sharmell." Sharmell enthusiastically chanted, "All hail, King Booker!" as her husband made his way to the ring to a chorus of boos. "There's no King Booker without Queen Sharmell," Booker T told Sports Illustrated. "That run never, ever happens without Sharmell. It was all built around her. And that's the mother of my kids, my partner in life and my soulmate."
Eddie Guerrero & Chyna
Eddie Guerrero and Chyna may have seemed like an unlikely pairing on paper, but Guerrero's commitment to the bit makes this one of the best on-screen couples in wrestling history. Chyna worked almost exclusively with male wrestlers at the time, as WWE chose to market her as a special attraction. As a result, she would not join the women's division until the final months of her run in the company. Guerrero wrote in his book, "Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story" that while many men shied away from working with Chyna, he saw an opportunity for himself to get over with a WWE audience that hadn't quite taken to him. "I was told that there was a natural chemistry between Chyna and myself," Guerrero wrote. "When they suggested that I work with her, I wasn't worried that it would damage my standing as a wrestler. My goal was to take whatever they gave me and run with it. That's the attitude I try to have all the time, to take whatever they put in front of me and do the best that I can with it. To grab it and make it bigger than life."
A series of hilarious segments and vignettes followed, such as Guerrero wrestling Essa Rios at "Backlash 2000" in a bowtie and tuxedo pants after he and his "mamacita" attended his high school prom, and the couple dancing in the ring with Too Cool after a match on "SmackDown." Eventually, Guerrero and Chyna began to turn babyface, but given the dishonest nature of Guerrero's character, a break-up seemed inevitable. When Chyna accepted Guerrero's wedding proposal, it marked the beginning of the end of the couple, as footage leaked of Guerrero partying in the shower with The Godfather's "hoes."
Jamie Noble & Nidia
Jamie Noble's on-screen relationship with Nidia came at a time when the company made its cruiserweight division more of a priority on "SmackDown." As a result, Head Writer Paul Heyman's creative team routinely crafted storylines for the cruiserweights beyond paint-by-numbers title feuds. Nidia Guenard, who co-won the inaugural season of "Tough Enough" alongside Maven Huffman, trained in Ohio Valley Wrestling for a year before debuting on-screen as the ex-girlfriend of The Hurricane, and later girlfriend of Jamie Noble. The couple participated in a series of ridiculous backstage segments and angles while together, the most notable of which saw Nidia get blinded by Tajiri's "Black Mist" and unknowingly help her boyfriend win matches while he attempted to take advantage of her at every turn.
Perhaps the best part about Nidia's formation with Noble is that it served as a vehicle for Noble to receive exposure he might not have otherwise gotten. The "trailer trash" gimmick gave color to a hungry wrestler like Noble and a debuting one like Nidia, and set both characters up nicely for almost two years. The on-screen couple came to an end when Nidia discovered Noble had been taking advantage of her in her blinded state. Rather than Nidia find a new boyfriend for Noble to feud with, however, she ended up feuding with Noble directly, with the former cruiserweight champion defeating his ex-girlfriend in a blindfold match at "No Way Out 2004."
Daniel Bryan & AJ Lee
Though CM Punk and AJ Lee dated behind the scenes in WWE and later married in real life, Lee's best on-screen romance was Daniel Bryan. Though Bryan had begun to involve himself in the World Heavyweight Championship picture by late 2011 and even incorporated the "yes" chant into his character, but "The Yes Movement" would not come for another couple years. Bryan entered an on-screen relationship with Lee, an adoring fan, while holding the world championship. Slowly but surely, Bryan began to believe in his own hype and turn heel, repeatedly and emphatically shooting down Lee's declarations of love.
Bryan's heel turn came at a time when he would routinely wrestle opponents much larger than him, such as The Big Show, Mark Henry, and Sheamus. All the while, his ego continued to grow proportionately with the way he would mistreat Lee, who remained a fan favorite all the while. Bryan's dismissive nature came to a head at WrestleMania XXVIII when Sheamus defeated him in 18 seconds for the World Heavyweight Championship after a good-luck kiss from Lee caused the distraction. Though Bryan would break up with Lee on the ensuing episode of "SmackDown," their interaction would continue throughout the rest of the year with Bryan eventually proposing to his ex-girlfriend after she made him jealous.
The wedding would not go according to plan, however, as Lee left Bryan at the altar to accept another proposal — from former WWE Executive Vince McMahon, no less — to become "Raw" General Manager. Lee leveraged her power on Raw to get back at Bryan for his mistreatment of her on Smackdown, bringing an end to a year-plus of memorable segments that served as the precursor to the "Yes Movement."
Edge & Vickie Guerero
For as instrumental as Edge's on-screen relationship with Lita was to elevating him in the eyes of fans, his relationship with "SmackDown" (and later "Raw") General Manager Vickie Guerrero might have done more for him in the long run. The Vickie Guerrero romance angle led to Edge staging arguably the greatest rivalry of his career with The Undertaker, netted him four World Heavyweight Championship reigns, and put him at the head of his very own stable, La Familia, on "SmackDown." With "The Ultimate Opportunist" directing traffic in the ring alongside stablemates Hawkins & Ryder and Chavo Guerrero, and Vickie pulling strings from a matchmaking standpoint, "La Familia" became a focal point of the show for nearly two years.
The union bore some similarities to Edge's romance angle with Lita, with over-the-top public displays of affection and Edge using his on-screen girlfriend (later wife) as a magnet for heat. However, Guerrero had a small handful of character advantages over Lita. While Lita largely served as window dressing for the "Rated-R Superstar," Guerrero was a natural on the microphone, and her status as General Manager created a dynamic between top star and authority figure never before seen in wrestling. However, the extremity of highs and lows finally caught up with the couple when Guerrero resigned as the "Raw" General Manager, prompting Edge to reveal he only married her because of her power. Edge left his soon-to-be "ex-wife" a broken mess in the ring while he sought other means to reunite with his actual one, true love: the World Heavyweight Championship.
Matt Hardy & Lita
Matt Hardy and Lita were once seen by WWE fans as one of the strongest real-life relationships in the company. After all, Lita's overall aesthetic made her a natural female complement to the Hardy Boyz tag team of Matt and his brother, Jeff. Lita managed the brothers to five tag team championship reigns, but otherwise appeared in a supporting role until her feud with Dean Malenko in 2001. Upon defeating Malenko in a singles match with the assistance of Matt Hardy, Lita kissed her fellow Team Xtreme member.
Lita and the elder Hardy brother saw their fair share of ups and downs over the next couple years, with Hardy even breaking up with Lita in a short-lived storyline that saw Matt feud with Lita and Jeff in 2001. With Lita tending to an injured neck and Hardy in the midst of a heel run on Smackdown, the couple would not be seen together again until Hardy got drafted to "Raw" in November 2003. Upon reuniting, Hardy seemingly planned to propose to his longtime girlfriend, but instead turned on her. He claimed Lita showed her true colors when she decided to return on "Raw" instead of "SmackDown," prioritizing her pursuit of the WWE Women's Championship over their relationship. In reality, Hardy claimed on an episode of "Byte This" that he requested a move to "Raw" to be able to travel with his girlfriend, but in hindsight called the decision "a career killer."
Hardy and Lita reunited on television once again in advance of the Kane feud, and their personal history set the tone for Hardy's return to the company and ensuing feud with Edge. As much as Hardy and Lita seemed like a great couple on paper, the value in the act always seemed to come from the two Team Xtreme members being at odds with one another.
Billy & Chuck
An oft-overlooked WWE couple, Billy and Chuck were the first "gay" tag team in WWE. According to Chuck Palumbo in an interview with Chris Van Vliet, he was first approached by Sgt. Slaughter and/or Triple H about doing a gay storyline with Billy Gunn with the long-term goal of turning a big rating with a wedding between two men. "We were two guys having fun," Palumbo said. "I felt the audience could see that and when the audience sees you're genuinely having fun, they read that and I think they enjoyed it." Palumbo's tag team partner, Billy Gunn, agreed with his partner's sentiments about having fun in the role and his sons, five- and eight-years-old at the time, also loved the gimmick and had no qualms about their father playing a gay character — though they told Van Vliet they would be teased at school from time to time about their "second father."
The Billy and Chuck storyline derived out of the infamous Invasion angle. As the overarching angle began to wind down, Gunn and Palumbo grew increasingly affectionate towards one another and began to be strongly hinted at being a gay couple. The duo began wearing matching gear and even bleached their hair blonde. They also hired Rico Constantino as their "personal stylist" and partook in a series of wacky segments and angles.
However, the pair's most memorable moment came during their "commitment ceremony," WWE's depiction of a marriage between two men. Billy and Chuck revealed during the ceremony they were actually straight men apart of a publicity stunt that went too far. The ceremony saw "Raw" General Manager Eric Bischoff tearing off an exceptionally well done prosthetic mask to reveal himself to be the officiator of the wedding, which he then used to stage an attack on "SmackDown" General Manager Stephanie McMahon with his henchmen, 3-Minute Warning.
Triple H & Stephanie McMahon
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon may be the most powerful couple in wrestling history, but their not-so-humble on-screen beginnings occurred while Triple H was in a relationship with Chyna. As members of D-Generation X under Shawn Michaels, Chyna and "The Game" also made for a solid on-screen couple. However, their relationship in front of the camera paled in comparison to the one Triple H would cultivate with McMahon, his future wife. Even still, McMahon played an important role in Triple H being taken seriously in a main event capacity as the McMahon–Helmsley Era only came after years of Triple H playing second fiddle in groups such as DX and The Corporation.
The "McMahon-Helmsley Era" angle came about in fall of 1999. McMahon had only been a character on WWE television for less than a year up to that point, but was actually set to marry Test — that is, until Triple H intervened. "The Game" had been feuding with Mr. McMahon for months, and revealed via video footage he already married Stephanie after drugging her, abducting her, and visiting a drive-thru Las Vegas wedding chapel. However, the whole ordeal turned out to be a giant ruse, with Stephanie later revealing to her father she fell in love with the man he hated most. The on-screen chemistry between the two proved to be so apparent, it actually drove a permanent real-life wedge between Triple H and Chyna, according to the latter's former manager.
Randy Savage & Elizabeth
It would be a fool's errand to end it with any other on-screen couple other than "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Elizabeth. Elizabeth Hulette first met "The Macho Man" while working as a television announcer for International Championship Wrestling, the local promotion run by Savage's father, Angelo Poffo. Savage later debuted in the WWF to great fanfare, and when the time came for him to choose his on-screen manager, he spurned many of the company's top managerial talents to appoint Miss Elizabeth as his valet. Elizabeth largely served as a cheerleader for the possessive and protective "Macho Man," occasionally getting roped into some of her real-life husband's feuds with the likes of The Honky Tonk Man and George "The Animal" Steele.
One of the two most famous angles involving Savage and his wife came in 1988 when Elizabeth came between Savage and tag team partner Hulk Hogan, resulting in her husband's heel turn. After the Mega Powers exploded at "WrestleMania V," Savage dumped his wife in favor of Sensational Sherri, relegating Elizabeth to sporadic television appearances until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Elizabeth threw Sherri out of the ring after the match, reuniting with her husband behind the camera, who soon too became her husband in front of the camera. An on-air wedding known to wrestling fans as "The Match Made in Heaven" took place at SummerSlam 1991, and stands the test of time as one of the only tasteful wedding celebrations the company has done. Though both Savage and Elizabeth have since passed on, they will always be remembered as one of the greatest couples in WWE history.