Over the years, we as professional wrestling or sports entertainment fans have witnessed some bitter rivalries and personal feuds unfold among various WWE Superstars and legends in and out of the ring so much so that it is very difficult for us to believe that some of those superstars are actually really close friends in real life. These Superstars share a great deal of mutual respect between themselves.
They are colleagues after all and since they share their daily-life schedule, it ultimately leads to a bond and in some cases, a strong friendship. The WWE is a big wrestling family and it is obvious that so many relationships are built while training and working together every day. Of course, these alliances develop based on different situations.
Also read: 5 WWE Wrestlers Who Are Related to Each Other in Real-life
Some of these superstars stepped foot into the industry together as childhood friends, while others were pitched into family storylines and eventually landed up as being really close buddies. There are multiple superstars who are friends in real-life today but we will read about these WWE Superstars who have have been rivals but proved that friendship is thicker than water.
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#5 Trish Stratus and Lita
Trish Stratus and Lita took the WWE Divas division by storm during the Attitude Era and its post wrestling days. Never before had the WWE fans witnessed a huge rivalry among two female superstars who were actually good with their job in the ring. Trish gradually rose to the top and claimed the WWE Women’s Championship, but Lita was always there providing a threat to her title reign and winning the title for herself on a few occasions.
Their rivalry laid the foundation for the next generation of female wrestlers in the WWE. They were well capable of executing moves which even some of the male wrestlers were unable to pull off. Together they created history after they became the first two women to main event WWE Raw. They are the original founders of the Women's revolution.
But between all of their on-screen feuds and rivalries, Trish and Lita were and still are friends in real life. When Trish Stratus was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, she revealed that her biggest enemy and best friend at the same time was none other than Lita. In the 2014 Hall of Fame, Lita was inducted by none other than Trish. They teamed up at WWE Evolution and successfully defeated Alicia Fox and Mickie James.
#4 The Undertaker and Kane
Kane and The Undertaker are very good friends in real life. The first time they met was in 1995, in Smoky Mountain Wrestling when 'Taker defeated Kane, who was billed as 'Unabom'. Fast forward today and the two are still friends. Kane stood in The Phenom's corner at WWE Super-Show Down and they reunited as The Brothers of Destruction to take on DX at WWE Crown Jewel.
Also read: 3 Reasons why Kane should've ended the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak
At one point, Undertaker had brought up the idea of Kane being the one to end his WrestleMania streak, but Kane declined because he had so much respect for his storyline brother and real-life friend. In the storyline side of things, they were two monsters who tried to tear each other apart several times. They went on to team up and even won the WWE and WCW tag team titles.
On an interesting note, The Undertaker was originally billed as "Kane The Undertaker" before his televised debut in 1990, but the Kane name was removed shortly before he made his debut and it was given to his new storyline half-brother in 1997. 'Taker even supported Glenn Jacobs on his run for mayor of Knox County in 2018.
#3 Edge and Christian
I don't need to say much about these two, as you already know. Former World Heavyweight Champions Edge and Christian are childhood friends. The two worked together in the independent circuit in the 90’s and worked their way up to the WWE where they formed an alliance called 'The Brood', and they were billed as his on-screen brothers. They won the WWE Tag Team titles seven times.
Edge worked his way through to the top and became the rated-R Superstar. He won the WWE Championship several times and even went on to headline WrestleMania. Christian has had his fair of success too, winning the Intercontinental Championship, World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW Championship twice. The two friends even hosted a WWE Network show called 'The Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness.'
Edge was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 and he was inducted by none other than his best friend Christian, who revealed some of the personal hardships Edge had faced in his early life during his induction speech.
#2 John Cena and Randy Orton
It might be really hard for you to believe this, but it is really a surprising fact. John Cena and Randy Orton, who have been nothing short of enemies in the WWE, are actually very good friends in real life. They probably are the two biggest names of this generation and have shared a bitter on-screen feud that even went to the extent where Orton attacked Cena’s father John Cena Sr. during a match at ringside.
They have main-evented WrestleMania, won the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank contract, WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. They both refer to themselves as the face of WWE, and that's something no one can deny.
Outside of the ring, they have celebrated their segments at bars and motels together over a table of drinks or two while travelling on the road together. I guess working as colleagues does make you get acquainted with your foe eventually.
#1 Shawn Michaels and Triple H
The journey of Shawn Michaels and Triple H began in the days of the Attitude Era. Together along with Chyna, they formed a faction called D-Generation X, which turned out to be one of the most controversial but loved factions of all-time. As time passed on, their on-screen friendship crossed over to real life friendship as they became an inseparable best of friends.
In an WWE interview, Triple H's wife Stephanie McMahon claimed that, at first, she thought Helmsley and Michaels were gay because they were so close to each other all the time. Even after the DX faction saw several of its members like Chyna, X-Pac, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn leave the company, Michaels and Triple H remained in the WWE and continued their friendship angle on TV, reuniting DX on several occasions.
Their most recent match as a tag team was at WWE Crown Jewel when they laid waste to The Brothers of Destruction. The Game honoured his long-time buddy by inducting him into the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame.