WWE Monday Night Raw started a new feud between the retuning Rusev and Bobby Lashley. This feud consisted of Lashley coming out during Rusev's Universal Championship opportunity and start making out with Rusev's wife, Lana. While fans seemed disappointed that an affair was used to push a wrestling angle, this is nothing new.
As a matter of fact, this has happened in storylines since WWE hit the big time in the '80s. Everyone from Macho Man Randy Savage and his wife Elizabeth to the McMahon family themselves has taken part in storyline angles surrounding their real-life relationships. Here is a look at 10 times WWE has used a romantic affair in a storyline.
10 HOGAN/SAVAGE/ELIZABETH
The most significant angle when it comes to the allegations of an affair in a WWE storyline came when the Mega Powers imploded in the '80s. It was Miss Elizabeth who brought Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan together, to begin with. It was Elizabeth who was at the center when they broke up.
The split was slow coming, as Savage kept showing jealousy whenever Hogan paid attention to Elizabeth. When Hulk left a match where he was teaming with Savage to help Elizabeth when she was hurt, that ended things. Savage attacked Hogan, accused Elizabeth of cheating on him, and the feud culminated at WrestleMania V.
9 SAVAGE/ELIZABETH/STEELE
Hogan vs. Savage was not the first time that Macho Man Randy Savage showed his insane jealousy of anyone paying attention to Miss Elizabeth. His anger even focused on people who had no realistic chance with Miss Elizabeth.
This fact was proven when none other than George "The Animal" Steele showed interest in Miss Elizabeth. While she looked very uncomfortable with his advances, Savage was utterly nuts. The entire story ended when Ricky Steamboat came to Steele's aid and won the IC title from Savage at WrestleMania III.
8 FLAIR/ELIZABETH/SAVAGE
Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth couldn't seem to stop their affair angles in WWE. Even though Savage was legitimately jealous of anyone who spoke to his wife in real life, he kept accepting these angles. One of the last came when he feuded with WWE world champion Ric Flair.
Unlike Hulk Hogan, who was innocent of an affair, and George Steele, who was innocent of everything, Ric Flair was faking an affair to get Savage mad. Flair showed photos of him and Elizabeth together, and it turned out later they were doctored. However, it was enough to lead to Savage beating Flair for the world title.
7 MR. MCMAHON
If there is anyone who thrived on affair storylines in WWE during the Attitude Era, it was Mr. McMahon. As the owner of WWE, McMahon was able to book himself into several storylines with WWE Divas of that era. On example came when Sable returned to WWE in 2003 and immediately took on the role of Mr. McMahon's mistress.
In 2001, McMahon was involved in an affair storyline with Trish Stratus. This angle was before she became a women's champion, and it got Linda McMahon involved. McMahon had another angle with Candice Michelle, where she was his sex slave and with Torrie Wilson as one of Vince's Devils.
6 EDGE/LITA/HARDY
There was one very uncomfortable instance where WWE took a real-life affair and created a storyline out of it. Edge and Matt Hardy used to be close friends in the Attitude Era when Edge & Christian were feuding with the Hardy Boyz. The Hardy's had Lita as their manager, and she was also in a relationship with Matt.
However, Lita cheated on Matt with Edge and Hardy ended up leaving WWE after this happened. In 2005, Matt Hardy returned to WWE and started feuding with Edge, who had Lita by his side at this time.
5 BRYAN/AJ LEE/PUNK
- CM Punk, AJ Lee, and Daniel Bryan
In 2011, AJ Lee entered into an on-screen romance angle with Daniel Bryan. This storyline wasn't Bryan's first on-screen relationship as he was also involved with the Bella Twins and cheated on them with Gail Kim. However, with the entire AJ Lee angle, there were more people involved.
First of all, CM Punk also showed interest in AJ Lee, and she played both men against each other. She also showed romantic interest in Kane, which was just weird. Lee ended up dumping both men. However, in real life, AJ Lee and CM Punk got married, making this an interesting storyline romantic angle that became real.
4 CHRISTIAN/TRISH/JERICHO
Chris Jericho was one of the most successful Canadian wrestlers in the Attitude Era. Christian was a huge Canadian star as a tag team wrestler, and in the Attitude Era even got a chance to work as a solid mid-card champion. Finally, Trish Stratus was the most popular female Canadian star in WWE history.
In 2003, Stratus started a storyline romance with Chris Jericho. Their relationship went into 2004 and then ended at WrestleMania XX. During that match, Jericho battled Christian and then turned heel and sided with Christian, who she said was a real man.
3 RUDE/CHERYL/ROBERTS
Go back in time to the '80s again, and Ravishing Rick Rude was a massive heel who came to the ring before every match and chose a woman from the audience to climb into the ring so he could lay a huge kiss on them. He made a wrong choice when he tried to call Jake "The Snake" Roberts' wife into the ring and tried to force her to kiss him. When she refused and slapped him, Rude got physically rough with her.
This action brought out a very jealous Jake to attack Rude. However, Rick Rude didn't stop, and he ended up with new tights with Cheryl's face on them. The feud ended at Survivor Series in 1988 when Roberts beat Rude.
2 TEST/STEPHANIE/TRIPLE H
Stephanie McMahon married Triple H in 2003. However, the storyline marriage on television started four years before that. Stephanie was involved in a relationship in 1999 with Test. The two got engaged in 1999 and were scheduled to be married.
However, the wedding was scheduled to take place on television, but Triple H came out and interrupted the wedding by showing a video. The video showed Triple H drugging Stephanie McMahon, driving her to a wedding chapel in Las Vegas, and marrying her. McMahon later revealed the entire wedding with Triple H was planned.
1 ZIGGLER/LANA/RUSEV
The entire WWE affair storyline with Rusev and Lana is nothing new. This storyline was supposed to happen back in 2015 but with Dolph Ziggler and not Bobby Lashley. That angle had Lana join Dolph Ziggler, turning babyface, and kissing him. This angle was to lead to a feud with Rusev, who was now managed by Summer Rae.
However, Lana ruined that entire affair angle when she made the mistake of posting her engagement news to Rusev on social media. WWE had to cancel the storyline and took Lana off television for a time.