The old saying is that “opposites attract” in romance. Wrestling has shown that with quite a few real-life couples who may seem odd pairings but somehow clicked. Not surprisingly, it’s been used a lot in actual wrestling angles with scores of romantic angles, some more successful than others. Sometimes, couples can click nicely and become hits, even those who seem weird but other times, they’re just too strange to work.
There are plenty of examples in wrestling history of strange romantic couples, most of them pretty forgettable. A few are notable for how odd they were not just in the pairing but the angle itself having some truly crazy turns. Yet others can stand out for how weird they were to be interesting pairings. Here are ten of the oddest wrestling couples ever seen and amazing to think how bad other bad romances abound.
10 Rey Mysterio & Tygress
Rey Mysterio is known for many things, but a ladies’ man is not one of them. WCW had already done some crazy stuff with Rey, like forcing him to unmask so he looked like a teenager. Yet they topped it by having him romancing former dancer Tygress.
For all his amazing ring skills, Rey couldn’t be believable trying to woo someone and frankly looked ridiculous trying. They got pushed in mixed tag team matches and a few angles but soon broke off with the other Filthy Animals. Rey probably wished he could hide under a mask for this.
9 Dawn Marie & Al Wilson
Among the more infamous “romances” of the Ruthless Aggression Era, Dawn Marie had been in a feud with Torrie Wilson. Dawn decided to hit personally by romancing Torrie’s father, Al. Thus, this knockout beauty was shown with this senior citizen, cavorting about and a huge in-ring wedding.
Torrie was as disgusted as most everyone watching as it culminated in Al suffering a “fatal” heart attack on their wedding night. The resulting feud fell apart as it was hard to top that, but it’s still remembered as one crazy romantic angle even for WWE.
8 Kane & Lita
This was a weird period for Kane, even in terms of his wild career. After beating Matt Hardy, Kane won the services of Lita, leading to a “black wedding” and clearly some in-bed encounters. Lita then became pregnant until Snitsky knocked her off an apron to lose the baby.
Suddenly, Kane truly loved Lita and fought for her honor against Snitsky and others, with Lita supporting the Big Red Machine. Then Lita turned on Kane to join Edge and reveal she’d been faking the entire relationship. Even for the guy who’d been with Torrie and AJ Lee, this storyline was an ugly mess.
7 Eric Young & ODB
While hardly the supermodel type, ODB was a delight among the TNA Knockouts for her brash manner, dress and crazy attitude. Maybe it made an odd sense she’d hit it off with the lunatic Eric Young in a wacky tag team.
Thanks to TNA’s odd rules, the pair actually held the Knockouts tag team titles and were building to a big wedding. While that never came off, between ODB’s drinking and Young stripping in the ring, the pair were a nutty but still loveable pair for TNA viewers to enjoy.
6 David Flair/Stacy Keibler/Daffney
As much as WCW tried, fans just couldn’t get into David Flair. He lacked his father’s ring skills and, more importantly, his charisma. Yet WCW thought a great way to get fans on his side was for David to romance the knockout Stacy Keibler in a romance with zero chemistry whatsoever. It led to a wedding where Stacy revealed she’d cheated on David.
David then moved to a romance with the nutty Daffney that actually seemed a bit better. Still, trying to buy David as some ladies’ man in either relationship was a bad move in a bad time for WCW.
5 Tajiri & Torrie Wilson
Having a romance angle where one figure barely speaks English seems odd, even for early 2000s WWE. Yet somehow, Tajiri, the Japanese worker known for his top matches, was in a relationship with blonde bombshell Torrie Wilson.
The skits were comedy gold, with Tajiri babbling in his own language as Torrie nodded along, yet somehow they managed to click together. Tajiri even got success as Cruiserweight champion before Torrie dumped him. But it shows sometimes romance can overcome any barriers, including language.
4 Edge & Vickie Guerrero
WWE has a thing for putting Vickie Guerrero into odd romantic angles. While it’s easy to go for Dolph Ziggler, her and Edge were more baffling. It made a little sense in Edge sucking up to Vickie when she was running SMackDown but continuing with stuff like him caring for her in a wheelchair and obvious romantic encounters were pretty odd.
It didn’t last long with Triple H crashing the in-ring wedding to reveal Edge had been cheating with Alicia Fox, leading to a ticked-off Vickie bringing in the Undertaker. It’s proof not all odd romances work out.
3 Santino Marella & Beth Phoenix
For a goofy Italian, Santino Marella had a real knack for winning over ladies. He and Maria had been a couple for some comedy antics. But that was topped by Santino and Beth Phoenix soon hooking up.
The idea of the Glamazon falling for this nutjob was strange, but it actually worked as they held the IC and Women’s titles at the same time and their antics were fun. Most of it was Beth jarred by Santino’s behavior yet seemed to really care for him. It was fun to humanize Beth and Santino a riot in the role, so as odd as it was, it worked.
2 Sherri Martel & Col Parker
Sherri Martel had been known for her connections to Shawn Michaels and others but this was bizarre. In WCW, Sherri was managing tag team champions Harlem Heat in a feud against Robert Parker’s Studd Stable. Parker put the moves on Sherri, who brushed him off until she got a blow to the head and was suddenly in love with Parker.
There was comedy in the Heat and Stable not believing this as it built to a wedding where another blow restored Sherri to normal. Still, seeing this feisty woman fawning over the rough Parker was a strange bit for a strange time in the company.
1 Mark Henry & Mae Young
It’s harder to get more “weird wrestling romance” than this gem. In 1999, Mark Henry was set up as “Sexual Chocolate,” a dashing ladies man. He and Mae Young became a couple with the bizarre sight of his beefing hulk picking up an elderly woman weighing about 80 pounds.
It culminated in one of the most infamous moments in WWE history as Mae announced she was pregnant and then gave birth to… a glove. The romance quickly ended, but it did give Mae a wild “second act” in wrestling while Henry has to chuckle on it today.