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Many WWE Superstars have developed friendships over the years. Some of them immediately clicked, like Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The two became best friends and have shared the ring many times as partners and opponents.
Meanwhile, other WWE Superstars initially disliked each other, but their relationship later improved. While some of them later became friends, others dated. Two of these stars have now even become husband and wife.
Here are 10 WWE Superstars who initially disliked each other.
#10 & #9. Former WWE Superstars Batista and Melina
Batista and Melina shared the locker room for several years. They also worked together on-screen. However, they weren't thrilled with each other in the beginning.
In his autobiography "Batista Unleashed," The Animal disclosed how his relationship with the former Women's Champion started.
"When she and I first started working together, I didn't like her very much. I don't think she liked me very much either... What I think happened between Melina and me was, because of our separate perspectives, there was a misunderstanding. She's very friendly and thinks that anyone who doesn't talk to her somehow doesn't like her. And one day after she'd started working with MNM, she came up to me and started crying... The differences in our personalities had gotten in the way," Batista said.
Despite this, the two later became friends and even dated for a few months after the former World Heavyweight Champion's second marriage ended.
Although the couple broke up, Batista and Melina are still on good terms. In an interview with Ross Report with Jim Ross in 2015, the former member of MNM called her ex-boyfriend "a great friend."
#8 & #7. WWE RAW Tag Team Champions Randy Orton and Riddle
Randy Orton and Riddle are currently among the best tag teams in Vince McMahon's company. However, The Viper and The King of Bros were not friends a few years ago. On the contrary, they initially disliked each other.
In an interview with the Kurt Angle Show, Orton revealed how he and Riddle first met and why he hated the former United States Champion:
"The funny thing with Riddle, the first time I met him, we were in Miami. The entire locker room of NXT was in Miami, so now our locker rooms which aren’t the biggest, are jam-packed with NXT guys. So, me being a vet and seeing this, it doesn’t help when I walk by Matt Riddle and my olive branch was basically me looking at Matt and said, 'There he is, there he is.' Just kind of an icebreaker expecting a, 'Hey Randy, my name is Matt. Nice to meet you.' Instead, Matt just kind of barely – with the blood-shot eyes – glanced over at me and he just kept walking. I remember thinking, 'That mother…..' So, for quite a while, I didn’t like Riddle. It was because of that little scenario. I took it as a lack of respect."
As they started working together, the two superstars began developing a friendship. In a WWE documentary, Orton disclosed that he has a lot more in common with Riddle than he thought.
Last August, Riddle spoke about his current relationship with his tag team partner, revealing that they get along well off-camera.
"On camera we are complete opposite people, you know, because he's very serious. He lights people on fire, I ride a scooter and kick my flip-flops off. We're two different people on camera but off-camera in the locker room we really connect, we're cool, we get it," Riddle told Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Riju Dasgupta.
Orton and Riddle are currently active on Monday Night RAW. They recently regained the RAW Tag Team Titles after defeating The Alpha Academy and Kevin Owen & Seth Rollins last Monday.
#6 & #5. WWE Superstars The Miz and Maryse
The Miz joined WWE after participating in Tough Enough in 2004. He hosted the 2006 Diva Search competition two years later, where Maryse participated. Although they started dating nearly a year later, The Awesome One and The French-Canadian Beauty did not fall in love at first sight.
In an interview with WrestleTalk TV, the former Divas Champion disclosed that The Miz was mean to her when they first met.
"He was so mean to me. Oh my God. I couldn’t speak English, and he was rubbing it in my face. He was just like, 'You can’t speak English. What are you doing here? You can't work with the biggest sports entertainment company in the world if you don't speak a word of English,'" Maryse recalled.
Despite starting their relationship on the wrong foot, The Miz and Maryse later fell in love with each other. They dated for several years before tying the knot in 2014. They are now parents to two beautiful girls.
#4 & #3. WWE EVP Triple H and Chris Jericho
Triple H and Chris Jericho have worked together for many years and have had some historic matches against each other. Nevertheless, they were not always on good terms.
During his appearance on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions last year, Jericho disclosed that he and The Game hated each other for years.
"There were some people that just didn’t want me there [in WWE] because I was a WCW guy, not realizing [that he ultimately wanted to work for WWE]. I talked to Triple H about this on Talk Is Jericho. We hated each other for years and we don’t even really know why now, but at the time it was, like, 'This guy's a piece of s***,'" Jericho recalled.
Jericho and Triple H have now become friends. The Demo God even called The Game "a true brother" in an Instagram post in 2019.
While Jericho is currently an active competitor in AEW, Triple H has not wrestled since January 2021. In his last match, The King of Kings went head-to-head against Randy Orton in a Street Fight on Monday Night RAW. Nevertheless, the bout ended in no contest.
#2 & #1. Former WWE Superstars Jessie McKay and Cassie Lee
Jessie McKay (FKA Billie Kay) and Cassie Lee (FKA Peyton Royce) were best friends when they joined WWE in 2015. However, they were not always that close.
McKay and Lee have known each other since high school. In an interview with Chasing Glory a few years ago, McKay revealed that she and her former IIconics partner initially disliked each other.
"We didn't really like each other at first because we were the only two wrestling fans at our school, so we used to compete on who was the biggest fan. We used to see each other lining up to meet all the Superstars when they would come over to Australia. We really didn’t like each other at first. I was like, 'She thinks she’s a bigger wrestling fan than me, oh sure her.' We would line up for hours and hours meeting Rey Mysterio one time at a shopping center near us. She started training at the company I was at and as soon as we met we had this connection and this bond that is really indescribable," McKay said.
McKay and Lee spent nearly six years in Vince McMahon's promotion, during which they held the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles once. Last April, WWE released them from their contracts due to budget cuts. They are currently active in IMPACT Wrestling.
Were you surprised to learn about these entries? Do you know about some stars who didn't like each other at first? Sound off in the comments below.
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