Were Edge and Lita actually dating during their WWE storyline?

Perhaps the most controversial WWE storyline of the mid-200s was the romance between Edge and Lita. It led to a firing, a controversial feud, and a lot of discomfort behind the scenes.

When Edge and Lita began their relationship/affair, it was a secret. Not only was Edge married, but Lita was also dating Matt Hardy in real life.

Matt Hardy was fired by WWE for his "unprofessional conduct" after he found out what happened. But he was re-hired and the safa was turned into a storyline on TV. During their on-screen romance, Edge and Lita were also dating in real life.

Various circumstances led to what happened. When Lita was injured, she took time off and was able to reflect on where her relationship stood with Matt Hardy.

As she admitted to Lilian Garcia on the Making Their Way To The Ring podcast, she knew the stars weren't aligned for Matt and her, and a series of complicated circumstances led to her getting involved with Adam Copeland aka Edge in real life.

After Matt was re-hired, the three superstars had to go through great levels of discomfort when the company wanted their real-life issues to turn into a storyline. Edge, Lita, and Matt Hardy all had to be professional about it.

Speaking to Peter Rosenberg, Edge addressed the professionalism needed to be involved in such a situation:

"You gotta be pros, and also, back to my point of finding positives when it doesn’t seem like there are any on the surface, you gotta dig underneath the surface, this was one of those. And you go, 'OK, we’re here, now what do we do? Well, let’s try to make some money together, and let’s try to further both of our careers out of this, and hopefully out of this, we can not only be stronger performers, but stronger people too.' And that usually doesn’t happen within the context of a wrestling storyline".

Edge admitted in the same interview that he feels the storyline helped establish himself and Matt Hardy as singles competitors, and even benefited Lita - who retired over a year after the storyline took place.

Years later, Edge revealed that it was water under the bridge for him and Matt Hardy.

When did Edge and Lita break up in real life?

There's a lot of information about what happened before and during the Edge-Lita storyline. However, not much is known about the end of the relationship, nor have Edge or Lita spoken about it much in public.

It was only hinted that the pressure on and off-screen led to the two quietly ending their relationship. Thankfully, the controversy behind the incident and storyline died down as well.

Ultimately, Lita retired as a legend, Matt Hardy went on to have a fruitful career in various promotions, while Edge turned into one of the greatest superstars of his era.