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WWE is similar to a weekly soap opera with structured storylines that lead to big matches at special events. Over the course of the past several decades, Vince McMahon's promotion has churned out a long string of iconic storylines.
These storylines come in various forms, be it two superstars' rivalry over a World title, family drama, a tag team splitting, and many more. A quite popular storyline idea that WWE likes to use a lot is that of romance between two superstars. Be it Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, Matt Hardy and Lita, or Otis and Mandy Rose - the company's archives are chock-full of a variety of romantic storylines.
In this slideshow though, we will be looking at an interesting aspect of WWE's romantic angles: on-screen couples with big age gaps between them.
#5 Lana and Bobby Lashley (On-screen WWE couple with an age gap of nine years)
Lana and Bobby Lashley's romantic angle on RAW will always be remembered for being one of the most controversial storylines in WWE history. The heat that the two superstars garnered while feuding with Lana's real-life husband Miro, was off the charts at the time. The age gap between Lana (36-years-old) and Bobby Lashley (45-years-old) is almost a decade.
Lashley spoke about the angle in an interview and revealed that he had received death threats on social media.
"I get very, very bad comments, ones I don't want to say on camera right now. Vulgar, death threats, there's a lot of things—but, ya know, I'm not a hard person to find and if anybody has anything to say about me, they can just come and see me. Not saying I'm going to fight every fan that disapproves of what we're doing, but I'm not going to back down to stupidity," said Bobby Lashley.
Bobby Lashley came out victorious when all was said and done. Miro was pulled off WWE TV after losing the feud to Lashley and was later released from the company. Lana accidentally cost Lashley the WWE title against Drew McIntyre at Backlash 2020 which resulted in The All Mighty leaving her for good.
#4 Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis (On-screen WWE couple with an age gap of 13 years)
The WWE Universe is in awe of NXT's adorable couple, InDex. It has been a while since Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis kicked off their romantic angle on NXT and fan reaction to the same has been quite positive so far. Hartwell's attempts at bagging Lumis' attention have been a big hit with fans and what makes this angle intriguing is her comic timing whenever she talks about the 37-year-old hunk.
When Candice LeRae recently slammed Austin Theory following his loss to Kyle O'Reilly, Indi Hartwell gave a response that confused everyone and led to LeRae getting genuinely worried about her mental state:
"Candice, stop! Why are you being so hard on him? You're being so hard on all of us. If he wants to kiss Dexter, let him kiss Dexter," said Indi Hartwell.
LeRae stated that Hartwell needs therapy and WWE legend The Rock's daughter Simone agreed with her wholeheartedly:
On tonight's edition of NXT, Lumis lost a "Love Her or Lose Her" Match to Gargano. In a surprising turn of events, Hartwell jumped on Lumis after the match and the duo began kissing, much to Gargano and Candice LeRae's disgust, as the show went off the air.
Indi Hartwell is currently 24-years-old and has a bright future ahead of her on WWE's main roster. She has the skills to become a big name in the Women's division in the near future. For now though, fans can sit back, relax, and enjoy her adorable love story with Dexter Lumis.
#3 Aalyah Mysterio and Murphy (On-screen WWE couple with an age gap of 13 years)
Seth Rollins and Murphy kicked off a feud with Rey and Dominik Mysterio on WWE RAW last year. The feud was carried over to SmackDown when all wrestlers involved were drafted to the Blue brand. In the midst of this heated feud, Rey's real-life daughter Aalyah got romantically involved with Murphy after the latter cost Rollins a Steel Cage match against Dominik.
On an episode of SmackDown, Aalyah kissed Murphy and the segment received quite a mixed reaction from the WWE Universe. The 32-year-old superstar's romance with the teenager (Aalyah was 19-years-old when the angle was presented) didn't sit well with fans and received major backlash. Murphy opened up about the angle after his WWE release and stated that he wasn't comfortable kissing Aalyah.
“I wasn’t comfortable kissing Aalyah. I did that because it was my job and it was going to create more drama in the story. Originally, there was no kiss scripted. They [the producers] went and they talked to Vince about something. They come back and they pitch it to me but they are kind of weird. Then they say ‘…and then you kiss her.’ I start laughing and go ‘fu*k off.’ But then they are like ‘No we are serious.’ I look at the other producer and he was like [nods head]. I’m like ‘No way! How did you come back with this?'" said Murphy.
Murphy's ex Alexa Bliss was also targeted by fans when she posted a tweet supporting his on-screen romance with Aalyah. In the end, the angle was scrapped and Murphy was taken off TV. He returned to action earlier this year but the run didn't last long and he was released by WWE in June.
#2 Sable and Vince McMahon (On-screen WWE couple with an age gap of 22 years)
Sable left WWE in 1999 after a memorable stint in the company. She made her return immediately after WrestleMania XIX in 2003 and soon got into a romantic angle with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
She feuded with SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon around this time and played the role of Vince McMahon's mistress. The villainous duo received major heel heat from fans at the time for their treatment of Stephanie and her mother Linda McMahon.
Sable was 36-years-old when the angle took place on SmackDown, while Vince McMahon was 58. The feud came to an end at No Mercy 2003 where Stephanie took on her dad in an "I Quit" Loser Gets Fired match.
The contest ended with Vince coming out victorious after beating the tar out of Stephanie in one of the most disturbing moments in the company's history. The latter lost the SmackDown GM position due to the stipulation of the match.
Vince's on-screen romance with Sable quietly came to an end shortly after the match. She would leave the company months later and go on to marry Brock Lesnar.
#1 Dawn Marie and Al Wilson (On-screen WWE couple with an age gap of a whopping 29 years)
Former WWE Diva Dawn Marie's steamy romantic angle with Torrie Wilson's real-life father Al Wilson was the talk of the pro wrestling world back in 2002. While feuding with Torrie on SmackDown, Marie got into a relationship with Al Wilson. Things got serious pretty quickly, and the couple got engaged on the November 7 edition of the Blue brand.
Their wedding took place on January 2, 2003 on SmackDown and Torrie wasn't thrilled with it. Al Wilson died (in storyline) from a heart attack while on honeymoon with Marie and her feud with Torrie continued on WWE TV.
Wilson defeated Marie in a Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter match at Royal Rumble 2003, thus putting an end to this bizarre feud. The former has spoken about the feud in the past. According to Wilson, her father enjoyed every moment of the storyline:
"He loved it. He had the time of his life, especially because he got to make out with Dawn [Marie] all the time," Torrie Wilson.
Al Wilson passed away in real life in early 2019, mere days before his daughter was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
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