It should come as no surprise that wrestling talents date each other and even get married to each other at times. After all, most of them are attractive people, and they spend an incredible amount of time together traveling from show to show.
But what happens when those relationships go sour? Or what happens when one person in the relationship leaves the WWE? When those things happen, real-life relationships begin to shape WWE careers and storylines. Here are five such situations from the WWE over the years.
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Kenny Dykstra and Mickie James
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Kenny Dykstra may have once had a promising career, but he was never quite on John Cena’s level, and that may have been a problem all the way around. Dykstra was engaged to Mickie James, who he found out was cheating on him with John Cena.
The fallout from that scenario found Dykstra moved from RAW to Smackdown, and he eventually found himself out of the company. Cena, meanwhile, went on to marry someone else, leaving James out in the cold completely.
Eden Stiles and Cody Rhodes
Eden Stiles and Cody Rhodes, real names Brandi and Cody Runnels, were married in September 2013. Cody, the son of WWE legend Dusty Rhodes and brother of superstar Goldust, is a former champion in both singles and doubles action, while Stiles was an up-and-coming ring announcer.
That all changed recently, as Cody announced earlier this month that he was leaving the WWE amid mounting frustrations over the writing team’s commitment to a Stardust character that had lost steam. Shortly thereafter, Stiles followed her husband out the door.
CM Punk and AJ Lee
CM Punk and AJ Lee got married in June of 2014, and that was also the same day that he was reportedly handed his termination papers from the WWE after a lengthy dispute with the company. Punk had been, and continues to be, one of the most vocally critical former WWE employees.
Lee had just completed a record 295-day reign as WWE Divas Champion and was frequently involved in the top women’s storylines and Divas title picture. Yet it wasn’t long before she had followed her husband out of the company.
Lana and Rusev
Lana and Rusev have been known to be a formidable force on WWE programming and have long been in a relationship in real life. Despite that, the couple broke up within the storyline, a move that saw Lana connect with Dolph Ziggler while Rusev started a screen relationship with Summer Rae.
That all came to a halt in October 2015, when reports got out that Lana and Rusev had become engaged in real life. The WWE chose to acknowledge those reports and write it into the story, halting the Lana-Ziggler angle completely. It was also rumored that Lana was punished with a less prominent role for a while because of the leak.
Triple H and Chyna
This was perhaps the most notorious of real-life relationships affecting the path of WWE superstars. As D-Generation rose to power in the Attitude Era, two of its members – Triple H and Chyna – were in a real-life relationship for about four years.
Then came the on-screen marriage between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, which turned into a real fling and later, of course, real marriage. Chyna, meanwhile, was out of the company not long after her relationship with Triple H ended, and the reasons for her departure are disputed.
