Romance in the wrestling business is always a dangerous proposition. Jim Ross used to work as the head of talent relation and has publicly stated many times that his main advice to performers was to never date other wrestlers. Things can get messy and harm the workplace environment. The best case of this would be the legendary tale of Matt Hardy, Lita and Edge. Lita cheated on Hardy with Edge leading to Hardy finding out and revealing it to the internet. WWE turned into a volatile high school drama and showed the perfect example of how terrible wrestling relationships can end.

The best case of a wrestling relationship working out would be Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Everyone was convinced it was a horrible idea that would end terribly considering Triple H was a main event act and Stephanie held one of the most powerful positions in the WWE. The two have lasted and currently run the WWE along with Vince McMahon. Both have become more influential in the business and still are very much in love, proving it can work out if the bond is worth the risk. The positive stories of couples lasting are much rarer than the ones that end poorly.

Pro wrestling becoming more heavily discussed on the internet and news breaking quite easily has led to relationships being hard to hide. Most romances are made public via backstage sources or just word of mouth on social media. The couples have to elaborately plan just about every detail of their life if they want to actively prevent their relationship from making headlines on various wrestling forums. Wrestling is just generally gossip by nature but there have been a few relationships that have gone under the radar and avoided the public eye... for the most part. We’ll look at those rare cases and break down the top fifteen wrestling couples you didn’t realize dated.

15 15. AJ Lee and Jay Lethal 

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via forum.ewrestlingnews.com

AJ Lee actually broke in the wrestling business under the training of Jay Lethal and the two ended up getting involved romantically. Lee has retired after becoming one of the biggest female stars in WWE history, so Lethal’s training methods definitely worked out. The two were an item during their days on the independent wrestling scene for a short time period. You can actually find old matches with Lethal and Lee teaming together on smaller independent shows from the time period they dated around 2009. The two obviously split a long time ago and there may still be bad blood as Lethal took a dig at CM Punk last year, implying Punk took his hand-me-downs.

14 14. Christy Hemme and Joey Mercury

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via fanpop.com

The original Diva Search winner Christy Hemme had a short career in WWE before getting released and going over to TNA. Hemme dated Joey Mercury during her time in WWE when Mercury was a member of MNM. The two never made big news due to neither being very controversial but it was one of those wrestling relationships to slip under the radar in a world where everything is scrutinized. Hemme’s eventual release was out of nowhere and a popular online rumor started to spread that Triple H cheated on Stephanie McMahon with Hemme, causing her firing. That has never been confirmed and Hemme’s relationship with Mercury is the only one that we know for sure happened in WWE.

13 13. Sara Del Rey and Cesaro 

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via en.wikipedia.org

Sara Del Rey established herself as one of the best female wrestlers in the world on the independent wrestling scene and now works in WWE as a trainer. Many credit Sara for influencing the changes that have come with the women’s wrestlers in NXT, who have brought a high level of competition never seen before in WWE. Del Rey has been dating WWE superstar Cesaro since both worked together in Ring of Honor and are still an item today. It’s a nice story to see both excel in various roles in the biggest wrestling promotion and while Sara will likely never wrestle again, the two are among the most talented couples in wrestling history.

12 12. Ashley Massaro and Paul London 

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via youtube.com

One of the forgotten wrestling relationships of the brand split era in WWE was Paul London and Ashley Massaro. Many of us wondered why Massaro was randomly inserted into the role of manager for the tag team champions London and Brian Kendrick. It all made sense when finding out London and Massaro were an item for a while. London has claimed that Matt Hardy treated him poorly in the locker room and Hardy’s past relationship with Ashley may have influenced that once London started dating her. The love triangle and drama was quite hidden until London left WWE and spoke out about Hardy in shoot interviews.

11 11. Sunny and Davey Richards 

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via wrestling-online.com

Tammy “Sunny” Sytch has dated too many wrestlers to name but one of the more high profile names that not many know about is Davey Richards. The current TNA star dated Sunny while he was still in Ring of Honor as the two met when she made an appearance for the promotion. Sunny used to frequently post comments on his Facebook page talking down to any female wrestling fans making comments about Richards. That should have been a sign of her issues that has since saw her enter more toxic relationships, get arrested multiple times and enter the adult industry, all in a couple of years.

10 10. Alicia Fox and Wade Barrett 

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via pinterest.com

The fact that almost no information leaked about Alicia Fox and Wade Barrett dating is quite impressive since the two were together during the spike of the internet taking over pro wrestling. It’s nearly impossible to keep a wrestling romance quiet but they managed to do it until the Total Divas show revealed the juicy details when Fox was talking about how hard the process of getting over their breakup was. The show would see them reach a peaceful middle ground with the ability to continue to be friends. Considering the two were in WWE developmental for years, it may have been a long term romance we were never aware of.

9 9. Brooke Adams and Robbie E 

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via heavy.com

Sometimes there’s a relationship that will unfold in pro wrestling that makes no sense. Robbie E and Brooke Adams is one of those. No offense to Robbie E, but he must have sold his soul to the devil to pull this one off. The two kept their relationship fairly private until they got the opportunity to appear on CBS’ reality show, The Amazing Race. The couple would travel all over the world in various competitions for a chance to win huge money but finished fourth overall. Robbie and Brooke eventually broke up and Robbie re-married his former wife that he originally ditched for Brooke. Awkward much?

8 8. Nikki Bella and Dolph Ziggler 

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If you didn’t watch last season’s final few episodes of Total Divas, you may have missed out on finding out about one of WWE’s past couples. Dolph Ziggler and Nikki Bella are both very successful performers that have become important members of the WWE roster but they actually dated when they started with the company. Not many fans were aware of this fact until Ziggler was trying to win Nikki back from John Cena on Total Divas. Fear not, supporters of Cena and Nikki. She slapped Ziggler when he tried to kiss her and that was the end of that.

7 7. Torrie Wilson and Mitch from the Spirit Squad 

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via clarklara.wordpress.com

Torrie Wilson has been in high profile wrestling relationships (Billy Kidman) and high profile mainstream relationships (Alex Rodriguez), but one that has gone under the radar was her romance with Spirit Squad member Mitch. The two would date when Mitch debuted in WWE as a member of the male cheerleading faction and they actually started their own fashion boutique before splitting. Mitch has claimed that he felt many established names in the WWE locker room treated him poorly because they felt he didn’t deserve to date Wilson and it led to his career suffering. It was a still very fair trade, Mitch.

6 6. Terri Runnels and New Jack 

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via ringthedamnbell.wordpress.com

Terri Runnels and New Jack made up perhaps the most bizarre real life couple in wrestling history. The relationship was fairly recent in 2010, when their careers as performers were long over. Terri and New Jack would take independent bookings together that would see them snuggling at the merchandise table. Sadly, things would end in ugly fashion as New Jack started to bad mouth Terri following the breakup. Terri actually would sue New Jack to prevent him from selling nude photographs to fans on the internet. The judge should have thrown it out for Terri’s idiocy of expecting a New Jack romance to not end poorly.

5 5. Kelly Kelly and Test 

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The relationship between Kelly Kelly and Test is one of the most awkward ones to think about. Kelly was barely an adult when she entered the WWE and Test was already over 30 when they started to date. The age gap made it hard to believe the two were actually an item but she has confirmed it on multiple occasions. Randy Orton actually referenced it during an interview when trashing Kelly for dating many wrestlers during her WWE tenure. In a morose fact, Kelly’s Blockbuster card was actually found in Test’s pocket the day he passed away. The two broke up but remained friends until his unfortunate death.

4 4. AJ Lee and Trent Baretta 

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via allwrestlingnews.com

It is common knowledge that AJ Lee is married to CM Punk today and we revealed that she used to date Jay Lethal during her early days in the business, but in the middle of that time was a relationship with Trent Baretta. The two were together in FCW and during their call-ups to the WWE main roster. AJ would go on to achieve much more success in WWE and there are fan theories out there that she played a role in Baretta’s firing, considering he was let go from the company shortly after they broke up. Both have moved on and have lived their dreams in different wrestling circles.

3 3. Mickie James and John Cena 

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via youtube.com

Remember that really weird love storyline between John Cena and Mickie James that lasted a few weeks on WWE television before being dropped with no explanation? Yeah, that stemmed from a real life relationship between Cena and James. Both wrestlers were arguably the most valuable male and female performers on the roster, so a relationship between them was a big deal that somehow didn’t leak out to the internet as much during the time. James’ ex-boyfriend Ken Doane has recently shared details claiming she cheated on him with Cena and Cena used his power to bury Doane’s career to get him out of the picture. James has refused to comment on any of the claims or either relationship.

2 2. Daffney and CM Punk 

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CM Punk is often referred to as a ladies man for the array of relationships he has had with female wrestlers in the wrestling business before settling down and marrying AJ Lee. One of the more interesting and less reported relationships from Punk’s past was dating Daffney when both were in Ring of Honor. Daffney is most known for her stints in WCW and TNA but she has been on the independent wrestling scene for years. The two were an item and worked together in ROH during the early stages of Punk’s career. It has been rumored that Punk cheated on Daffney with Traci Brooks but that has obviously never been confirmed by any of the parties.

1 1. Stacy Keibler and David Flair 

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via heartbreakers.me

WCW was a weird time for everyone. The place was a huge mess with wrestlers doing ridiculous things and making bad decisions weekly. The best case of this would be Stacy Keibler choosing to date David Flair. Keibler was a star in the making and one of the most attractive women in the world. David Flair was…. David Flair. The surprising relationship made its way to television for a short storyline until it all unraveled. Keibler would move on to WWE and become a big star while the second generation Flair fell into obscurity. Considering he can say he once dated Stacy Keibler and was a highly paid WCW star, David Flair couldn’t ask for more from the wrestling business.