4 times WWE used real-life relationships to build a feud in the past year

Back in the day, WWE was very strict when it came to relationships between its men and women Superstars. Even if there were rumors of couples dating, the company rarely addressed it, let alone use such cases to build storylines. Nowadays, WWE seems to be very open about the same. Maybe there is some leniency now as compared to earlier or maybe it is really hard for the Superstars to maintain secrecy about their life with the advent of social media.

This week, we saw not just one or two, but three couples getting involved in storylines. We first saw the newlywed Drake Maverick and Renee Michelle have an argument about the former's obsession with the 24/7 Title. Later in the night, Mike and Maria Kanellis went on to challenge the WWE power couple of Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins.

All three of these moves had just one agenda and that was to take the storylines of the respective Superstars ahead. Of late, WWE seems to be using this strategy quite regularly.

---

#4 Naomi and Jimmy Uso

Mandy Rose took it a bit too far

Last December, a feud between Mandy Rose and Naomi was ignited when Rose started flirting with Naomi's husband, Jimmy Uso. She would show up in a towel during his matches, try to catch him under a misseltoe and even invited him to her hotel room.

Naomi, like any other reasonable married woman, didn't appreciate the advances made by The Golden Goddess towards her man. Naomi and Rose had many encounters both in and out of the ring. Their brawls took place all across the arena and even in God's Greatest Creation's hotel room where Jimmy was present.

Later, Mandy revealed that she went through all this trouble because she didn't like Naomi's attitude towards her during their time in Tough Enough.

#3 Rusev and Lana

This doesn't look like Rusev Day

Remember the time when Aiden English and Rusev were on the same page? That was when the Rusev Day gimmick really took off. The team of Rusev and English was over with the crowd but sadly, English had enough of his run with Rusev and turned on him.

After his heel turn, The Drama King took it up a notch and told Rusev, along with the WWE Universe that there was a tape involving Lana and Milwaukee. Rusev didn't like the sound of that and challenged English to release the video. Aiden, playing the crowd, showed only one half of the video that ended with a lot to be imagined.

On the very next week, after building immense excitement, The Artiste was hacked and the Bulgarian Brute played the rest of the video on SmackDown Live. The video had nothing but Lana praising English for his contribution to Rusev's career but ended with him making a move on her. Rusev didn't enjoy that one bit and went on to pulverize his former teammate on the show as well as in subsequent matches till the feud ended.

#2 AJ Styles and Wendy Jones

Oh, Wennnnndddyyyyy!

Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles had dream match written all over it. Here too, WWE didn't spare the chance of adding family ties to build their matches. Joe, in pursuit of the WWE Title, took on this sadistic and detestable character that every WWE fan began to dislike.

Joe and Styles' feud began when Joe was traded to SmackDown Live and attacked Styles. They had many memorable encounters and to pull the feud on for two PPVs, WWE included Styles' family into it. The Samoan Submission Machine constantly took shots at Styles' wife and daughter, he showed up on their doorstep when Styles was away from home and also went on to provoke The Phenomenal One in front of his daughter.

Either way, with or without Styles' family getting involved, the duo's matches were hellacious and enjoyed by every member of the WWE Universe out there.

#1 Dean Ambrose and Renee Young

Bobby Lashley didn't leave Renee Young out of his short feud with Dean Ambrose

After WWE officially announced Dean Ambrose's release date, he was booked to lose almost every match that he was a part of. Every Superstar was given a push at Ambrose's expense, maybe because he was anyway leaving the company.

When Ambrose had a short feud with Bobby Lashley, everyone in attendance and watching at home knew how it would end. What nobody could have foreseen was Lashley saying that he would take care of Renee Young when Ambrose leaves WWE. That was the last straw for the Lunatic Fringe and he attacked Lashley.

Although, in the end, it was Lashley who stood tall over Dean Ambrose who was driven through a table, the part where The All Mighty referred to Young was uncalled for. It's good that WWE didn't go ahead with that as a storyline after Ambrose made his exit from the company