As most wrestling fans know, onscreen relationships don’t always translate to behind-the-scenes relationships. There are some wrestlers engaged in blood feuds who are the best of friends in real life, while there are some tight-knit tag teams who are completely indifferent to one another outside the ring.
Some old-school types may balk at it, but the concept of “kayfabe” isn’t what it used to be. As a result, the internet is full of photos of surprising combinations of wrestlers hanging out, including some posted by the performers themselves. Some of these photos reveal friendships among the talent on the same roster who rarely interact on-screen, while others depict figures in wrestling fans would never imagine actually interacting.
10 John Cena & Sheamus
To pro wrestling fans, Sheamus’ most well-known outside-the-ring relationship is with Triple H, as the two were considered “gym buddies” for a while -- and thus blamed all Sheamus pushes on having a friendship with one of the bosses. One of Sheamus’ earliest main roster pushes had him feuding with John Cena, ultimately winning the WWE Championship at TLC in 2009.
Thus, fans may be surprised to see the Celtic Warrior and Cena hanging out in their free time. As shown above, Cena even appeared on Sheamus’ YouTube show, Celtic Warrior Workouts.
9 Gail Kim, Lita & Christy Hemme
Because Gail Kim and Christy Hemme would ultimately spend enough time in TNA to be most associated with that promotion, it’s easy to forget that they not only started out in WWE, but also overlapped with Lita during their time there.
All three of them are now retired from in-ring competition, but continue to work together outside of the ring. In fact, as recently as 2020 the trio were attempting to launch a television drama centered around the world of wrestling called KAYFABE.
8 WALTER & Malcolm Bivens
NXT fans might be baffled to see this photo between NXT UK Champion WALTER and NXT manager Malcolm Bivens. But the two actually crossed paths on the indies, as Bivens (under the superior name Stokely Hathaway) used to manage a stable called Catch Point that clashed with WALTER’s Imperium precursor Ringkampf.
As for the photo itself, this is actually a thing that Bivens posts on social media quite frequently: photos of himself smiling next to a wrestler who appears unenthused with his antics.
7 The 57 Club
It shouldn’t surprise fans to see that Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi are hanging out, considering that NJPW commentary regularly reminds viewers that the two are long-time friends who trained with Animal Hamaguchi together.
But what’s notable in this photo is the other wrestlers they’re hanging out with, which includes Kota Ibushi, Taiji Ishimori, and Kazma Sakamoto -- best remembered by Western fans as “Sakamoto” in WWE. They’re all part of the 57 Club (or 57年会), a social group of wrestlers all born in 1982-1983, otherwise known in Japan as the 57th year of the Showa era.
6 Kikutaro & Stephanie McMahon
Kikutaro -- formerly known as Ebessan -- is a veteran Japanese comedy wrestler who ended up moving to the US in 2016, and currently works in the indie scene. Viewers of Asuka’s YouTube channel KanaChan TV may recognize him from appearing in some of her videos, but nobody on Earth could have expected a photo of him with Stephanie McMahon.
This happened when he paid a backstage visit to Raw on 4/9/2018 and took fun photos with a variety of stars including D-Von Dudley, Sasha Banks, and Ember Moon.
5 Trent Barretta, Sami Zayn, Brodie Lee & Ryan Nemeth
The untimely death of Brodie Lee (a.k.a. Luke Harper) was a tremendous shock to the wrestling community in 2020. An outpouring of love and support from all over the scene ensued, which surprised some fans who only knew him from his onscreen persona and were unaware of just how many lives he touched during this time.
In December of 2020, Sami Zayn shared some photos of a beach day from their NXT days featuring the two of them along with Trent Barretta and Ryan Nemeth (a.k.a. Briley Pierce), along with some funny memories of their outing.
4 Sasha Banks & Meiko Satomura
Sasha Banks is a well-documented fan of Eddie Guerrero, but few talk about her appreciation of Japanese wrestling. After all, her move Meteora is a tribute to CIMA. When Banks traveled to Japan during her sabbatical from WWE in 2019, she tracked down Japanese legend Meiko Satomura.
After finding Satomura, Banks trained with her and the other members of Satomura’s Sendai Girls promotion. Now that Meiko Satomura is part of WWE in NXT UK, there’s a greater possibility of a Satomura/Banks dream match.
3 Shawn Spears & Tyler Breeze
WWE fans are most familiar with the underrated on-screen pairing of Tyler Breeze and Fandango as the tag team Breezango, who ended up winning the NXT Tag Titles in 2020. But Tyler Breeze has a strong real-life friendship with fellow Canadian Shawn Spears, who wrestled for WWE as Tye Dillinger.
Spears and Breeze will show up in one another’s social media from time to time, but their relationship is also a business partnership, as the two run a wrestling school in Florida called Flatbacks Wrestling.
2 Natalya & R-Truth
Natalya and R-Truth have been in the wrestling business a long time, Natalya being part of the Hart Family and Truth having started his in-ring career in 1997.
While really devout WWE fans who watch Total Divas might remember R-Truth appearing on that show from time to time -- and displaying an irrational fear of Natalya’s cats -- it might be a shock to see the two pose for a photo years before they’d show up in WWE together.
1 Jim Ross, Kazuchika Okada, Steve Austin & Josh Barnett
Posted by “Good Ol’ JR” himself, this photo captures a specific time in Jim Ross’ career -- when he was the play-by-play commentator for New Japan Pro Wrestling alongside Josh Barnett. While some fans have been critical of JR’s NJPW work, it’s still pretty cool to see one of the icons of pro wrestling hanging out with one of its current stars in Kazuchika Okada.
Even cooler is the fact that Stone Cold Steve Austin is there with them. It’s well known that Austin and Ross are long-time buddies, but seeing one of the most popular American wrestlers of all time hang out with one of the most popular modern Japanese stars should give fans a special rush.