9 WWE couples who weren't together in real life

On-screen alliances are common and relationships in wrestling are nothing new. While WWE has historically put real-life couples together on-screen, there have been numerous instances where WWE paired two Superstars together even though they weren't dating, engaged, or married in real life.

This list highlights those couples who had a run on-screen - and whether it was memorable or not, many of them weren't together in real life. Let's take a look at nine such instances.

#9. AJ Lee-Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler had a whirlwind of a year in 2013, but the end of 2012 saw him form a new alliance and a new relationship. He won the Money in the Bank briefcase that year and was involved with Vickie Guerrero.

While Ziggler was on the other side, AJ Lee helped him retain the Money in the Bank briefcase in a match against John Cena at TLC 2012. Soon after, the debuting Big E (Langston) confirmed that the two were an item on-screen.

The alliance would prove to be a helpful one for all of them and though Ziggler and Big E failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championships from Kane and Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 29, Ziggler would have arguably the greatest moment of his career one night after on RAW when he cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase on Alberto Del Rio to become World Heavyweight Champion.

A concussion and Del Rio's lack of popularity would lead to the title changing hands and a double turn a couple of months later, while Ziggler ended the on-screen relationship In July of 2013. They were never together backstage and the alliance was widely regarded as a mistake by many who felt that Lee should have had her own spotlight in the Divas division.

#8. Kane-Lita

"Weird" would be the best way to describe this pairing

Not long after WrestleMania XX, Kane fell in love with Lita, who would soon reveal that she was pregnant. While her then-boyfriend Matt Hardy assumed he was the father, Kane claimed that it was his. He had already kidnapped Lita before and while the former Women's Champion tried to break it off with him, she was forced to marry Kane after he beat Matt Hardy in a "Till death do us part" match in SummerSlam 2004.

The entire thing sounds bizarre because that's exactly what it was. Kane would get involved in a feud with the debuting Snitsky and things would only get weirder. In the latter's debut, he hit Kane with a steel chair, forcing him to accidentally fall on Lita and causing a "miscarriage".

It was a way to write him off-screen so he could go film See No Evil, but he would re-align with Lita a few months after his return, but their relationship wouldn't last long as she would align with Edge in a controversial storyline based on real-life. As for Kane and Lita, they were never together.

#7. Gail Kim-Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan was still a relative newcomer in early 2011. While he was briefly released in 2010, he returned at SummerSlam that year and would capture his first Championship just a month after when he beat The Miz to win the United States title.

It was in early 2011 when he found himself getting the attention of both The Bella Twins Nikki and Brie Bella - before he would begin his real-life relationship with the latter. He was managed by the twins but that would soon end after they discovered him kissing Gail Kim backstage.

It led to a feud and a couple of catfights. In the eyes of Gail Kim, it was the final straw for her and delayed her inevitable WWE departure. When speaking to 411Mania about it, she gave her thoughts on being in the storyline with Bryan:

It was a good experience in terms of having a story and being more of a — not wrestler, but character I guess amongst the story. People remember it, I’ll say that. [laughs] That’s for sure. So that did prolong my time there, and I think we played that out. And it was basically like, I remember they were really happy with it. They loved the catfights and all those things, and we had like two more catfights after that backstage and in the ring. And then I got kind of replaced by Eve Torres in that storyline, and I remember just thinking, ‘Okay, why did that happen?

She would be directionless for the rest of her run before making a return to Impact Wrestling and revolutionizing The Knockouts division. As you know, Kim and Bryan were never together in real life.

#6. Eve Torres-Zack Ryder

We feel bad writing this because of how awful it turned out for Zack Ryder. While Ryder was the United States Champion, everything about this story seemed like a way to bury him. It was a shame because, in 2011, he was using YouTube and social media to get over - something that he had successfully achieved without necessarily getting a push.

He was paired with Eve Torres, who was also involved with John Cena in his rivalry against Kane. Who can forget when Ryder was shoved off the stage by Kane while being in a wheelchair? After Cena rescued Eve Torres from an attack by Kane, she would kiss him while Zack Ryder watched on close by holding a bouquet of roses.

The relationship on-screen didn't last too long and was used as a propeller for Eve's heel turn when she revealed that she was using Zack Ryder and never liked him, to begin with. They would get together before WrestleMania 28 but she cost his team the match and added insult to injury with a low blow.

#5. Chyna-Eddie Guerrero

Chyna and Eddie Guerrero were incredibly entertaining together

While the two were originally heels, Eddie Guerrero and Chyna would quickly turn into fan favorites. Eddie Guerrero famously dubbed her as his 'Mamacita' and the two would have a brief but memorable run together on-screen.

They wrestled a mixed tag team match against Trish Stratus and Val Venis, where the Intercontinental title was also on the line. Chyna would pin Stratus to win her second Intercontinental Championship and it would lead to some friction between the two. He would slyly pin her in a Triple Threat match also involving Kurt Angle to become the Champion.

There was a brief angle where Chyna was posing for Playboy and Guerrero didn't allow it, going as far as to invading the Playboy mansion to stop it from happening. The two would even be engaged on-screen for a while before it ended when Chyna caught him cheating on her.

According to Bruce Prichard, Eddie Guerrero wasn't fully convinced of the angle at first but took the challenge to make the most out of it. Safe to say, Eddie Guerrero did what he would go on to do many times in the remaining five years of his career.

#4. Trish Stratus-Chris Jericho

In 2003, Christian and Chris Jericho were friends and around the same time, Chris Jericho began dating Trish Stratus while Christian was dating Lita. Ultimately, it was a ruse and Trish Stratus overheard a conversation between the two where they had a bet as to who could sleep with their respective partner first.

While Stratus overheard this, the story would progress and lead to an intergender tag team match at Armageddon 2003 dubbed as "The battle of the sexes", where Stratus and Lita were defeated. Eventually, Jericho and Stratus' relationship would continue into 2004 and there was even a time when Christian faced and beat Stratus, which would lead to the Jericho-Christian match at WrestleMania XX.

However, the match at WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden saw Stratus help Christian pick up the win, leaving Jericho in the process. This would put an end to their on-screen romance that never happened in real life. They would face Jericho in a handicap match at Backlash, where they lost.

Stratus would go on to win the Women's Championship not long after.

#3. Torrie Wilson-Carlito

What came of this on-screen relationship?

Torrie Wilson is now a bonafide WWE Hall of Famer, but her last couple of years weren't anything special to note. It appears as though WWE tried to book Carlito as a "ladies man", as he had alliances with Trish Stratus, Rosa Mendes, Brie Bella, and Torrie Wilson.

The one with Stratus was undoubtedly the weirdest since it was evident that they just threw the couple together. Moreover, Stratus' retirement came out of nowhere, which abruptly ended their partnership.

His on-screen relationship with Torrie Wilson wasn't much to note as well, though it saw Wilson get involved with both Carlito and Ric Flair - who he would feud and team within a matter of months. Flair had taken a mentorship role for Carlito and the two would win a dark match at WrestleMania, but their alliance lasted only a month longer as he turned on Flair after losing a number one contender's match. After that, he would dump Torrie Wilson and turn heel again. He even faced Wilson in a singles match and won in June 2007.

#2. Lana-Bobby Lashley

The most controversial on-screen couple of 2019-20

This one took fans by surprise when it first happened because of how random it felt. Rusev was in a storyline where he was first revealed to be the father of Maria Kanellis' baby (something she later told Mike Kanellis wasn't true). Interestingly, the Maria-Mike baby storyline had no payoff as well and would kickstart the feud between Bobby Lashley and Rusev.

At the end of September, Lana would return and so would Bobby Lashley, with both of them kissing on stage in front of a distraught Rusev. It began a controversial feud, one that was heavily criticized by fans. As he always has, Rusev used the situation to turn himself into a big babyface and it was going surprisingly well until Lashley kept beating him repeatedly.

Due to Rusev's injury, the storyline had no payoff to begin with and the idea was supposed to be to get Rusev over big. It even acted as the story for Liv Morgan's return, but nothing much came of it.

Lana and Lashley, despite posting on social media, were never together.

#1. Stacey Keibler-Randy Orton

The moment before it all went down for Keibler

It's no secret that WWE tried to make Randy Orton the face of WWE before they realized that Batista, and eventually John Cena, were better long-term options. It turned out to be true, but it doesn't take away from an amazing year that Randy Orton had in 2004.

He was a part of Evolution and would beat Chris Benoit to win the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. The faction would soon turn on him and he had a run as a babyface where he briefly held the World title before losing it to Triple H.

While the plan seemed to be for him to regain it at WrestleMania, WWE realized two major things - Firstly, Orton wasn't getting over as a babyface as hoped and secondly, Batista was slowly emerging as the potential breakout star of Evolution.

In early 2005, Orton had an on-screen relationship with Stacy Keibler which went well, up until he hit her with an RKO to turn heel again. It was one of his most despicable heel moments. The two were never together off-screen.

Edited by Zaid Khan