To an old-fashioned romantic, the emotion of love comes with no strings attached. Then again when you’re a part of a multi-million conglomerate like WWE, you can expect some string pulling that may directly poke a proverbial nose into the matters of your heart strings. At the end of the day, WWE is a part of showbiz, so you can expect a few dramatic moments that are perfectly capable of giving the well-oiled spice machine that is the Indian film industry quite a run for its money.
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Amongst all the grime and madness, a few real life wrestling couples have had to pay the ultimate price in order to keep their reel personalities afloat. With that in mind, let’s have a look at 5 times WWE interfered in a superstar’s romantic relationship.
1- Triple H and Chyna
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WWE has had many noteworthy power couples and Triple H and Chyna are right up there with the best. Besides being a pair of outrageously talented wrestlers, the couple also enjoyed a blossoming relationship off screen. Unfortunately, that relationship ended in heartbreak, with Triple H leaving Chyna in favour of future wife Stephanie McMahon.
The breakup was followed by Chyna’s departure from WWE, where she earned a reputation as one of the most influential female wrestlers in the business due to her glittering career. Chyna would later allege that HHH had an affair with McMahon and later left her for the latter.
The deceased wrestler recently claimed that she had a meeting with Stephanie’s father, WWE CEO Vince McMahon about the situation, after which she received a fax stating that she was no longer needed at the company. HHH went on to have a seamless career after her departure, all thanks to the intervention of his father in law.
2- Stone Cold and Debra Marshall
WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin was involved in two failed marriages before he got hitched to fellow wrestler Debra Marshall in 2000. However, Stone Cold’s history of failed marriages came back to haunt him, with the wrestler filing for divorce three years after he wed Marshall.
A few years after the divorce, Marshall went on record to say that Stone Cold hit her on three occasions, with WWE in the know about the domestic abuse but forbade her from speaking up about it through a gag order as it would cost the company millions of dollars. Since Stone Cold was one of WWE top money spinners back then, the company worked quickly to ensure that their prized asset had a clean image.
3- Matt Hardy and Lita
Besides being highly successful in their wrestling careers, Matt Hardy and Lita also enjoyed an excellent off-screen relationship. That was until Adam Copeland aka the Edge entered the picture. Soon, Hardy and Lita split after it emerged that the latter was involved in an affair with Edge, with repercussions soon following.
WWE, not one to pass up the chance to capitalise on an opportunity, used the tension between the trio to form a storyline, which involved Lita turning villainous. Hardy was also fired from the show around a year after the fling, only to be rehired later on. All in all, WWE is perfectly capable of using romantic tension to their advantage, if that isn’t clear already.
4- Lana and Rusev
Although this power couple is still very much together, they both know the consequences of getting on the bad side off WWE officials. The franchise’s creative team spent months in developing an on-screen romance between Rusev and Summer Rae, only for Lana to throw water on their plans by announcing her real life engagement to Rusev to the public without the company’s permission.
As a result, WWE was forced to acknowledge her engagement on screen and alter their story line involving Rusev. WWE penalised Lana by taking her off television for a couple of weeks, much to the shock of fans.
5- Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella
While no repercussions or heartbreak sprang up in this relationship, WWE has done their fair share of cashing in on this couple through the reality series Total Divas. The franchise has covered everything from Daniel and Brie’s wedding to tit bits of their daily lives on the show, which has been a real rating puller for the company. WWE must surely be crossing their fingers about this relationship lasting and even blossoming further as it’s a cash cow they wouldn’t want to let go of.
