Love triangle storylines have been around in pro wrestling for years. Some of the best pro wrestling love triangles have been portrayed in the WWE over the years including some of the biggest names in pro wrestling at the time. From the days of Hulk Hogan to John Cena turning his back on Zack Ryder, fans have always been into these sort of storyline – be it for perverse pleasure or the romance and the intrigue.
Romantic angles in WWE are almost always entertaining and often don’t end too well for one of the participants. In this article, I take a look at 5 love triangles in storyline that left a lasting impression on the WWE Universe, be it because of the bad blood between the participants in the angle or the violent revenge that came out of it.
5: Chris Jericho – Trish Stratus – Christian
This love triangle actually began with Jericho and Christian dating Trish and Lita respectively in 2003 which led to Jericho and Christian making a bet as to who could sleep with their woman first. When Trish caught wind of this she immediately dumped Jericho who had actually fallen in love with her since the bet.
Jericho moped around and complained incessantly after getting dumped which eventually led his tag partner Christian to get tired of his constant whiling and lovelorn comments. This led to Christian turning to Jericho which led to a match between the two Canadians at Wrestlemania XX.
The match ended with Trish helping Christian win the match and revealing that she and Christian had been an item all this while. They sealed their twisted relationship with a kiss on the ramp after the match as a battered and bruised Jericho looked on from the ring.
4: Randy Savage – Miss Elizabeth – Hulk Hogan
‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan were two of the biggest names in pro wrestling in the 80’s. The combined near the end of the decade to form The Mega Powers – an alliance between the two titans of the industry with Miss Elizabeth (Savage’s wife) managing them.
However, it didn’t take long for Savage to get insanely jealous of the growing friendship between Elizabeth and Hogan. As the Mega Powers popularity hit through the roof, Savage’s jealousy grew.
This led to the infamous episode of Main Event where Hogan left his tag-team partner stranded in the middle of the ring during a match while he took Miss Elizabeth to the back to receive medical action. Savage received an almighty beatdown at the hands of The Big Bossman and Akeem as he lay helpless while Hulk, the jackass that he is and always has been, was at the back with his woman.
Savage exploded backstage and knocked Hogan out with his belt which signified the end of The Mega Powers and led to a match between Hogan and Savage at Wrestlemania 5 which was eventually won by Hogan.
3: Kane – Tori – X-Pac
This one may well be the least remember love triangle on this list but at the time that it happened, it was a huge deal. Since his debut in 1997, Kane had had terrible luck with friends. He was betrayed by The Corporation and his love interest Chyna until the Big Red Monster finally found a friend and a unlikely one at that – X-Pac – who swiftly proceeded to turn on Kane.
Following this, Kane and Tori’s love affair started in November 1999 while Kane was still at war with X-Pac and the rest of DX. Tori complained to the authority figures at the time – Triple H and Stephanie – which pissed the hell out of Stephanie.
Stephanie booked herself in a match with Tori in which she replaced herself with X-Pac. Tori was swiftly beaten and Kane was attacked and assaulted backstage by the Mean Street Posse. Kane was offered a WWE title shot the next week against Big Show with the stipulation that Tori would spend Christmas with X-Pac if he lost. Predictably, Kane lost.
Tori returned after the holiday, still claiming to love Kane, but her strange behavior drove the Big Red Machine over the edge. Kane was attacked by the McMahon-Helmsley faction near the end of January, 2000, and while he was tied to the ropes, X-Pac revealed that he and Tori had gotten physical during their holiday and that she was now his girlfriend.
2: Edge – Lita – Matt Hardy
This storyline began as a real-life incident and ended up in the WWE ring. It was the year 2005, and Matt Hardy was at home recuperating from a number of injuries while his girlfriend of 6-years, Lita, remained on the road with the WWE.
During her time alone on the road, Lita became close to Edge – one of Matt Hardy’s best friends – and one thing led to another and Lita was soon sleeping with Edge behind Matt Hardy’s back. When Matt found out, he was unsurprisingly seriously upset to find his girlfriend cheating on him with one of his best friends and spoke out on his personal website which led to WWE shockingly firing him.
WWE later backtracked under fan pressure and brought Matt Hardy back and threw him straight into a feud with Edge. They clashed in an iconic steel cage match where both men’s ability and professionalism signed. Despite bitter personal issues between the two of them, they worked safe and put on one hell of a match.
1: Triple H – Stephanie McMahon - Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle’s feud with Triple H over the affections of Stephanie McMahon is one of the most underrated WWE feuds of all time. Angle came into the WWE from the world of amateur wrestling as a former Olympic gold medalist and took to pro wrestling like a fish to water.
In the year 2000, Stephanie McMahon managed both Angle and HHH much to Triple H’s chagrin. Kurt had a thing for Stephanie but his problem was that she and Triple H were already a couple. With all avenues seemingly close and Angle constantly rebuffed, he finally managed to plant a kiss on Stephanie in the lead up to Unforgiven 2000.
Triple H took his anger out on Kurt Angle at their No DQ match at Unforgiven with Stephanie proving her loyalty to Triple H as she nailed Angle in the groin to help HHH get the win.
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