5 Broken relationships that were brutally turned into pro wrestling storylines

Professional wrestlers have a history of getting involved with other wrestlers, which makes sense enough given the business’s rigorous demands in terms of travel, staying in shape, and maintaining a public persona.

There have been times, however, when real life breakups and turmoil have resulted in wrestling storylines that parallel true events. Sometimes the allusions are subtle. Sometimes, they’re downright brutally honest.

This article takes a look at five times when pro wrestling’s creative direction wasn’t so creative at all but rather mirrored real-life situations in uncomfortable ways.

These storylines not only added intrigue by cashing in on fans’ awareness of wrestler’s personal lives, but also forced the performers themselves into a variety of uncomfortable situations, working with their ex-partners themselves, or even men who’d stolen or otherwise wound up with their previous significant others.

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#5 Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth

Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth argue in the ring.

Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth may be the single most iconic couple in pro wrestling history, both behind the scenes and in front of the fans. While Savage is remembered as one of the best wrestlers of his generation, there’s little doubt the guy was at his best when cast as the defender of Miss Elizabeth’s honour.

Sometimes that meant playing the jealous heel against guys like Hulk Hogan and George The Animal Steele. Sometimes that meant playing the white knight against sleazy Ric Flair or evil Jake Roberts.

After the real-life relationship had dissolved, however, WCW rekindled the pairing, if only for the very purpose of breaking them up on screen when Miss Elizabeth turned heel on Savage. Elizabeth was never known for showing a ton of personality, and the heel role turned out to be a pretty lousy fit for her.

#4 Matt Hardy and Lita

After real life indiscretions, Edge and Lita became an on-screen couple.

In the Attitude Era, Matt Hardy and Lita became one of the coolest couples in wrestling. On screen, they joined Jeff Hardy as two-thirds of Team Extreme—an alternative unit of faces who used innovative offence and aerial tactics to capture gold. Off-screen, they came across as a happy couple.

As the story goes, while he was off for injury, Matt looked at Lita’s cell phone and found incriminating messages from co-worker and mutual friend Edge. Things got to the point where there were concerns about whether Matt was safe to have backstage around Edge.

He was temporarily released from the company before WWE brought him back for a worked shoot angle, playing out the real-life tensions between the characters on TV and in the ring.

#3 Kurt Angle and Karen Jarrett

Dating Kurt Angle's ex-wife: not advised.

After Kurt Angle and his wife divorced, something unlikely happened — she wound up falling in love with another wrestler, who happened to be Angle’s co-worker: Jeff Jarrett. Angle was reportedly incensed that Jarrett would date his ex-wife and this led to real life tension backstage.

Cooler heads would prevail in the end as Angle and Jarrett wound up working a program together in the aftermath, playing off of real-life events.

While Angle and Jarrett put their differences aside to be professional in the ring, the program nonetheless must have been difficult, particularly given their respective spots in the company, with Angle as arguably the biggest name in TNA, and Jarrett a company co-founder and off-and-on power broker.

#3 Kevin Sullivan and Woman

Kevin Sullivan got more than he bargained for when he booked his wife in a storyline with Chris Benoit.

Kevin Sullivan was the head booker for WCW off and on throughout the 1990s and one of the angles he devised saw him cast his own wife, Woman, leaving him for on-screen rival Chris Benoit. Sullivan purportedly went so far as to instruct the two to act like a couple in public, in the interest of convincing any fans looking on that the angle was real.

Maybe Sullivan and his wife were already struggling as a couple, or he saw her gravitating toward Benoit. Maybe this is a case of life imitating art.

Whatever the case, Woman would end up leaving Sullivan for Benoit in real life. She’d marry the latter man and have a child with him, before the tragedy of Benoit ultimately killing the entire family.

#1 Eddie Guerrero and Vickie Guerrero

Vickie Guerrero sided with Rey Mysterio, against her husband.

While Eddie Guerrero and Vickie Guerrero were together for a long time, they did have a two-year separation, during which Eddie was involved with another woman.

While the Guerreros, by and large, seemed to be happy together, it seemed as though WWE may have been borrowing from their period of estrangement when they cast the two against one another in 2005, mere months before Eddie passed away.

The storyline saw Eddie as selfish and mean-spirited, seeking to take custody of Rey Mysterio’s son, who was portrayed as Eddie’s birth-son. Vickie played the voice of reason, first trying to talk her husband down, and later physically costing him a ladder match against Mysterio.

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