5 Bitter WWE rivals who were great friends off-screen 

Wrestling is a business like no other, in sports like MMA and Boxing the two rivals will be in the ring or the cage doing everything in their power to defeat their rival before they can defeat them. In wrestling, two wrestlers have to work together throughout the match in order to put on the best show.

Storylines are definitely interesting since this is what fans become invested in, but more often than not these stars will work hard on the buildup and then become friends throughout the process of their rivalry.

This has happened many times in the past since there have been several stars who were against each other on-screen but would then travel home together or even be pictured outside of the ring having a meal together.

WWE is much more aware of kayfabe at present and will prevent stars who are working a feud together from traveling together, but there have been some fantastic examples of WWE's bitterest rivals actually being the best of friends.

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#5 Lacey Evans and Natalya

Lacey Evans and Natalya have become close friends throughout the course of their feud

Lacey Evans and Natalya have collided a number of times over the past few months to the point where their rivalry could only be decided in a Last Woman Standing match. It was a match that was won by Natalya before it was then announced that the two women would make history in Saudi Arabia.

Natalya and Evans traveled to the Middle East together and then had a fantastic match where Nattie once again came out on top before they then returned to their opposite brands.

Evans and Natalya were able to put on some fantastic matches throughout their short feud, but it was evident in Saudi Arabia that the two women had become quite close and Evans had learned a lot from Nattle throughout their time performing together.

#4 Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano

Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano are the best of friends outside of the ring

Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano came through the ranks in NXT together as DIY before they were shockingly split when Ciampa decided that it was too much for the fans to think that he was replaceable.

When DIY were unable to regain their Tag Team Championships, Ciampa attacked Gargano and started what would become the bitterest rivalry in NXT for more than a year. Ciampa would attack Gargano from behind a number of times and the duo would then go on to main event several Takeover events before their feud was finally settled.

Somehow the two men have now been able to turn things around and are back on the same page in NXT, but Ciampa now has another enemy in his sights instead of his former teammate. The two men once lived together when they were part of a tag team and were even promoted to the main roster at the same time a few months ago before Ciampa's injury forced them to be sent back down, so it's easy to see why they have become so close.

#3 John Cena and Randy Orton

Randy Orton and John Cena have become good friends

John Cena and Randy Orton are perhaps the two best-known wrestlers in the world at present since both came through the ranks in WWE around the same time and have dominated the company for more than a decade.

The fact that Orton was the main heel in WWE at that time and Cena was the main face meant that more often than not a match between these two stars would be the one that would make it to air. Despite seeing their feud numerous times, fans were still invested in it because Orton and Cena knew how to take it to the next level, with Orton even punt kicking Cena's father at one point.

Even though these two stars had a fantastic rivalry on TV, they were seen many times backstage together and Orton's own daughter reportedly thinks of Cena as an uncle. It would be hard for the two men to put on the level of matches that they have over the years without at least becoming friends, so it's interesting to see that they are now both looking at their options after retirement but still quite close outside of the company.

#4 Trish Stratus and Lita

Trish Stratus and Lita have become best friends in real life

Current fans of the WWE product will be aware that Trish Stratus and Lita paved the way for the current Women's Revolution and have both recently been able to return to the ring as friends rather than rivals.

Throughout their careers, things were a little different. It was obvious that Trish and Lita were the best women in the division at the time, which meant that they would often be forced to face each other on a regular basis. Lita helped Stratus to become a seven-time Women's Champion throughout the course of her career since Lita was always a heel and Stratus was usually the face.

In her final WWE match, Stratus asked if she could face Lita in her hometown of Toronto at Unforgiven back in 2006. It was the perfect end to a feud that had eclipsed WWE for a number of years. Lita tapped to the Sharpshooter and Trish became a seven-time Champion. Lita announced her retirement from the ring merely months after Stratus in November 2006 which proved just how close these two women were throughout their time with WWE.

#5 The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar

Undertaker and Brock Lesnar are surprisingly friends outside of WWE

Brock Lesnar was the man who was handpicked by The Undertaker to end his streak back at WrestleMania 30 more than five years ago and it appears that the two men are still known enemies on WWE TV to this day.

Lesnar and The Undertaker put on some impressive battles throughout 2015 when The Deadman returned to the ring and wanted to exact some revenge. It was a one-sided feud that was used to put Lesnar over as The Beast that he would later become, but there was no rivalry hotter that Lesnar and Taker when they brawled for around half an hour on an episode of Raw.

Having seen what they could do to each other on WWE TV, many fans were shocked when images emerged of the two men sitting down to dinner together as part of WWE's trip to Saudi Arabia back in 2018.

It appears that even though The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar were fantastic at portraying a feud on WWE TV, the two of them had become close friends off-screen. Sometimes the best of friends manage to put on the best of feuds.