10 WWE feuds which had personal angles

Professional wrestlers maybe larger than life characters, but under all those glitz and glamour they are just human beings like you and me. These wrestlers have emotions just like everyone else and when those emotions go beyond a limit, things get too real.

Though most of the fans tune into wrestling with the conclusion that it’s all fake, sometimes it isn’t. There have been numerous amounts of real-life feuds in the business and at times, the company even took the luxury of working it into kayfabe storyline. These were feuds that blurred the lines between reality and kayfabe, so without much more introduction, here is a look at some of those rivalries that had a real-life personal story as its foundation.

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#10 Batista and Booker T

Batista broke into the Main event scene after splitting from the Evolution. After he made it big, the Animal did one thing that wasn’t appreciated by the other brand. He was taking shots at SmackDown every now and then and Booker T decided to get into a real-life fight against this.

The two fought during the 2006 SummerSlam photo shoot and Batista walked out of the fight with a lot of scars in his face to show off.

McMahon was apparently impressed with the two and wanted to work this into a feud which later happened. Since both men were professionals they didn’t show their friction while doing their job but there was a sense of tension every time these two stepped in between the ropes.

#9 Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage

As you’ll notice the trend, women have been the real problem in most of the feuds that are there in the list. And it was the same problem here as well.

Savage was heavily protective of Miss Elizabeth and this eventually led to the fall out between Savage and Hogan both on screen and off it. The two men were known as the Mega Powers back then and WWE decided to run an angle where Hogan and Savage would fight over Miss Elizabeth.

This feud was apparently inspired from real life situations that went down. And a serious of shoot promos by Savage underlined this. Hogan and Savage eventually patched up before Savage’s passing which was a great relief in the end.

#8 Ric Flair and Bret Hart

Ric Flair and Bret Hart had some memorable matched back in WCW and there was a huge amount of friction between the two.

Bret once referred Flair the most overrated wrestler in the history of professional wrestling. While Flair struck back by saying that Bret was a star in his own mind and also gave out a famous response that quoted “Who is Bret Hart? I wrestled everybody in the business, for an hour each night. Harley Race, Dory Funk, Jack and Jerry Brisco, who is Bret Hart?”.

Almost all their matches had glimpses of hatred here and there and the promos that happened as part of the buildup was nothing short of brilliant thanks to the personal angle.

#7 CM Punk and Jeff Hardy

The feud that happened between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy back in 2009 was nothing less than ‘best for business’. Both men gave out their best in the storyline that contrasted between their life styles but when Punk became a bit too professional Hardy didn’t like it.

Punk was regularly taking shots at how derailed Hardy’s career and life was and though it provided some entertaining moments for the fans, Hardy didn’t take it lightly.

After he moved away from WWE, he started taking shots at Punk and made it clear that he never liked Punk in the first place which was pretty much the soul of their storyline.

#6 Mr. Kennedy and Randy Orton

Kennedy was one wrestler for whom the WWE had high hopes for. He was given a great push when he came along and the rookie was beating up former World Champions like he was born for it.

However, he never fulfilled his potential in WWE and it was because of Randy Orton. Orton and Kennedy were once working a match in the ring and when Kennedy went on to give Orton a suplex, his career turned upside down.

After the match, Orton went backstage and made a mess out of the situation saying Kennedy was too dangerous to work with. He had John Cena to back up that claim and Kennedy never saw a WWE ring after that.

#5 Ric Flair and Mick Foley

The friction between Ric Flair and Mick Foley dates all the way back to Mick’s early days in the WCW. They were known for taking shots against each other through their books. Mick first tagged Flair as a bad booker while Flair underplayed the things Mick did throughout his career.

Flair called Mick a ‘glorified stuntman’ in his book and Foley didn’t hold back his anger about that tag. The two took personal shots at each other almost every time they got the chance to until WWE decided to work this into a feud back in 2006 which culminated into one of the bloodiest matches that WWE has seen.

They also had a stint in TNA as well and things seem to be sorted out after those matches as both men are considered friendly now.

#4 Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff

When WWE had the idea of having an ECW reunion with the One Night Stand pay-per-view back in 2005, they needed an antagonist against Paul Heyman and the product.

And since Bischoff was in the roster back then, they didn’t have to look much further. Heyman and Bischoff are two of the most respected wrestling promoters ever but instead of respect, the two men hated each other.

Heyman’s hate was justified because of the talent steals that Bischoff did from ECW while Bischoff said that he didn’t like the rabid product that Heyman was offering.

Once these two were left to feud over the One Night Stand, the fans got to see some of the best promos and segments of the year mainly because of the real emotions that were behind the feud.

#3 Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle

Snatching up Kurt Angle into TNA was arguably the best thing Jeff Jarrett did to his promotion. Angle was a big deal back in WWE and when he joined TNA, the promotion was discovered in the map.

Jarrett, who was main eventing during that time wasted no time in feuding with Angle. The feud came back in 2008 and in 2009; Kurt Angle’s wife was engaged to Jarrett.

It was a real shocker when that happened and TNA decided to mould it into an angle than spanned nearly two years. There was a lot of tension between the two men throughout that period but for one reason or the other, Angle stayed along with TNA for the years that came by.

#2 Edge and Matt Hardy

A similar story to the Angle – Jarrett, but unlike the previous one this made more headlines since it happened in WWE. Lita cheated on her then boyfriend Matt Hardy and hung around with Edge which enraged Hardy.

He went public with his rants and soon got fired for exposing the backstage secrets. However, WWE saw money in the angle and rehired him after some time and put him in a feud with Edge over Lita.

There were some real shoot promos from Hardy that looked nothing less than real and once it all ended, Hardy was packed away while Edge went on to become a main event star. And Lita, she started dating CM Punk.

#1 Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart

It would’ve taken a miracle feud to topple these two from the top of this list. Both Michaels and Bret literally hated each other back in the 90s as both men were looking to reign supreme as the ultimate alpha male in WWE.

The duo exchanged stinking blows at every chance they got and Bret hated Michaels so much that he didn’t want to drop the title to Michaels before leaving to WCW.

This led to the infamous Montreal Screwjob which was the end of their original in-ring feud. Though the two patched up later, there hasn’t been anything a real rivalry in WWE that was more famous and controversial than this.

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