8 WWE Couples That Vince McMahon Tried To Break Up (And 7 He Forced To Be Together)

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Vince McMahon may be The Chairman of WWE and the most powerful man behind the scenes, but it seems that he also likes to weigh in when it comes to his superstar's personal lives as well.

Of course, what WWE superstars get up to in their spare time and who they decide to have a relationship with is none of the company's business, let alone the chairman, but it seems that he still has his own opinions when it comes to who certain people should be dating. There is a rule that WWE stars are not allowed to date any of the creative team, which makes sense because that would mean that someone backstage could be heavily biased towards one of the stars.

Over the past few decades there have been a number of couples that Vince has refused to support and actually tried to split. For some reason, it seems that the WWE Chairman also once thought that one of his female wrestlers was too pretty for her boyfriend, so he tried to align her with another star backstage, in the hope that she would then become attached to him instead.

McMahon has some dirty tactics and sadly there have been a number of couples over the past few years who have been on the receiving end of them. The following list looks at eight couples that the WWE Chairman has tried to split up and seven that he wants to stay together because he is able to market them as a duo.

Wants To Split: Mike And Maria Kanellis

Maria Kanellis is already a well-known star in WWE. Following stints in both TNA and Ring of Honor, the former Diva Search contestant was resigned by WWE and brought back into the company at Money in the Bank earlier this year alongside her husband.

Mike and Maria were thought to be the next it couple in WWE, but instead, over the past few months WWE hasn't been happy with Mike's work in the ring and within a matter of weeks, his push was a distant memory. Recent details have emerged regarding his addiction to prescription painkillers, which has seen him be held back even further. Paul Heyman once stated that Maria had a fantastic brain for wrestling and it's obvious that she was resigned because of that and Mike was brought with her. If Vince had the choice, he would only have brought back Maria, even though it was recently revealed that she is now pregnant.

Wants To Remain Together: Dean Ambrose And Renee Young

Dean Ambrose and Renee Young came clean about the fact that they were in a relationship in 2015. They have had constant abuse from the WWE Universe ever since, who seem to think that Renee isn't good enough for the former Shield member.

Despite this abuse, Renee and Dean still went on to get married last year and were then added to the cast of E! Network reality show Total Divas. WWE even went one step further and allowed Renee to insert herself into the feud between Ambrose and The Miz earlier this year, which was the company's way of showing that they supported their relationship, a luxury that Nikki Bella and John Cena hadn't even been afforded at this point. Renee and Dean are no longer a part of Total Divas, but Renee has recently been moved over to Monday Night Raw so that she can be with her husband, which is nice.

Wanted To Split: Triple H And Stephanie McMahon

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are the power couple of WWE right now; the COO and creative mind behind NXT has been married to the daughter of the WWE Chairman since 2003, but just because they are now a power couple, doesn't mean that it has all been smooth sailing for the duo.

When the couple was first working together in WWE, Stephanie's father had banned her from dating any of the superstars that she worked with. It took Vince a long time to come around to the idea that his daughter was dating one of the stars that he employed. Luckily this was one couple that the WWE Chairman changed his opinion of and has since been able to like the idea of WWE having the duo taking over the company. This is something he obviously had to move on from at one point, since Triple H now sits around the family table with Vince on a regular basis.

Wants To Remain Together: The Miz And Maryse

The Miz and Maryse are known as the it couple in WWE because they have been at the top of their game over the past year, since Maryse returned to WWE to align herself with her husband.

Maryse and Miz have been given every opportunity that the company can afford them and were even added as regular cast members to Total Divas two seasons ago, a place that they have retained since then. Maryse recently announced that the couple are expecting their first child, which is why she has been missing over the past few weeks, as it seems that WWE is allowing the former Divas Champion some time away at the beginning of her pregnancy. The couple wouldn't have been given the backing they have over the past few years if Vince wasn't a fan of them, especially since WWE putting them together back in 2009 was the reason why they are a couple right now.

Wants To Split: Big Cass And Carmella

Carmella and Big Cass have been dating ever since they were aligned together in NXT alongside Enzo Amore. The couple has had their own fair share of ups and downs throughout their time together, which includes the fact that Triple H told Cass that he and Enzo were being promoted without their manager.

Carmella followed Big Cass to the main roster a few months later as part of the WWE draft, but she was sent to SmackDown while her boyfriend has spent his entire main roster career on Raw. Carmella has been pushed into a storyline where she is with James Ellsworth recently now as well, with no mention of her real-life romance with the seven foot tall star. The couple has recently been added to E! Network's reality show Total Divas for the next season, though, so this could be a sign that Vince is warming to the idea of the two stars together.

Wants To Remain Together: Naomi And Jimmy Uso

Naomi and Jimmy Uso have been together now for a number of years and were even able to have their wedding filmed as part of Total Divas. The couple are not one of WWE's mainstream couples like Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan, but they are still fairly well-known to the WWE Universe after years of playing their part in Total Divas.

Over the past few years, Naomi has been able to work with her husband on WWE TV and even valeted the Usos at WrestleMania 31 before the two were both finally able to go their separate ways a few months later. This year alone Naomi has been SmackDown Women's Champion twice and The Usos have held the SmackDown Tag Team Championships twice. It seems that McMahon could be a big fan of the couple and is finally allowing the two stars to have the success they deserve on the SmackDown roster.

Wants To Split: Alexa Bliss And Buddy Murphy

Alexa Bliss and Buddy Murphy are another WWE couple who met down in NXT when they were working together. Alexa helped Wesley Blake and Murphy to the NXT Tag Team Championships when she was managing the team before the duo split a few months later.

Alexa was then drafted to the SmackDown roster as part of the WWE draft and has since become one of the hottest stars in WWE over the past year. Murphy hasn't been able to keep up with his fiancée and has been kept off WWE TV now for more than a year as the creative team work hard to give Murphy a new gimmick after it seems that his old one had run its course. Murphy and Alexa are another duo that has been split up by WWE, but it seems that they are still managing to find time together despite being on different travelling schedules.

Wanted To Remain Together: Emma And Zack Ryder

Emma and Zack Ryder became well-known by WWE. Emma and Zack met when the former Intercontinental Champion was sent down to the NXT roster to work with Mojo Rawley as The Hype Bros.

Ryder later was promoted back to the main roster and was able to spend a few months with Emma on Raw before the Australian wrestler was sidelined with a back injury. Not long afterwards, Ryder was sidelined with a knee injury and the couple seemed to be enjoying looking after each other. Sadly, Zack later began updating his Instagram with images of him alongside current TNA star Chelsea Green, which showed that he and Emma had gone their separate ways. I'm sure Vince would prefer Emma and Zack to be together than Zack dating someone from a rival promotion, who once worked for WWE and was part of Tough Enough a few years ago.

Wants To Split: Sasha Banks And Sarath Ton

Sasha Banks married her long-time boyfriend and current WWE costume designer Sarath Ton back in August 2016, but wasn't able to publicly announce that she was married until earlier this year because she was scared of the backlash from fans.

It seems that fans were not the only ones that Sasha needed to be wary of, since Sasha hasn't been allowed to mention that she's married on WWE TV, and in a recent storyline with Alicia Fox and Noam Dar, WWE asked Sasha to try to convince the WWE Universe that she was still single. It seems that someone higher up in the company wants Sasha to be much more desirable to the WWE Universe, which is why the company will never declare that one of their most popular females is married. Whoever this is obviously isn't a fan of the fact that Sasha got married last year. No prizes for guessing who that is.

Wants To Remain Together: Edge And Beth Phoenix

Edge hasn't had an easy personal life over the past few years; he was married and divorced twice before the scandal with Lita back in 2005 and since then he decided to keep his personal life private. That being said, Beth Phoenix has been linked to the likes of CM Punk and Randy Orton throughout her career, so it seems both stars definitely have a past.

Edge began dating former WWE Women's Champion Beth Phoenix after the duo left the company back in 2011 and the couple is now married with two children together. Earlier this year, Beth was added to the WWE Hall of Fame of 2017, which meant that she and Edge became the first ever couple to both be part of the class. It seems that even though the duo is one of the most unlikely couples that company has ever thrown together, they have definitely got a number of supporters backstage.

Wants To Split: Natalya And Tyson Kidd

Tyson Kidd and Natalya are definitely one of the cutest couples that wrestling has ever created; the duo met when they were training in the Hart Dungeon and it seems that they have been together ever since.

They finally married back in 2013 and their wedding was featured in the first season of Total Divas, even though there were a number of issues for the couple leading up to their exchange of nuptials. The issues for the couple continued after their wedding when Kidd was injured and hasn't been able to return to the ring since, which has left him in a position where he was taken off Total Divas because he said that WWE just didn't want him on there anymore. It seems Kidd and WWE have had their own fair share of issues over the past year, while Nattie has finally managed to win the Women's Championship after 10 years of trying.

Wants To Remain Together: Brie Bella And Daniel Bryan

Brie Bella may not be as famous as her sister, but she is still the face of both Total Divas and Total Bellas, and is the wife of current SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan. The couple married back in 2014 following WrestleMania 30 and welcomed their first child this year.

It seems that much like with Cena and Nikki Bella, Vince knows that he can make money off Brie and Daniel; they are part of the two spin-off shows that WWE has been able to create and he knows that Bryan is one of the most popular stars in WWE right now. Brie and Daniel were also allowed to work together for a while in WWE before Brie retired back in 2016, which means that they definitely have the seal of approval from WWE executives backstage, because not all couples are given that kind of opportunity. Ask Nikki and John, who had to wait five years for the privilege.

Wants To Split: Lana And Rusev

Lana and Rusev were once a formidable pairing in WWE as Lana helped her husband to come up from NXT and become an undefeated beast on the main roster. That didn't last very long, though. Following Rusev's defeat to Cena and the end of his streak, it seems that Vince realized that the two were dating in real life and wanted to change this.

It is reported that McMahon stated that Lana was too attractive for Rusev and he then went on to break up the couple on TV and align Lana with Dolph Ziggler instead, in the hope that she would then start a relationship with him. This obviously didn't happen and Lana and Rusev announced their engagement partway through the storyline, which led to it being scrapped and the duo being punished for ruining it. They have since been added to Total Divas, but have been split up once again on WWE TV, so it seems that Vince might be coming around to the idea of them being together.

Wants To Remain Together: Nikki Bella And John Cena

It seems that in recent years, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have been dethroned as WWE's biggest power couple, since John Cena and Nikki Bella have become incredibly popular and are the faces of both Total Bellas and Total Divas, as well as two of WWE's biggest on-screen stars, even though both are currently on hiatus.

Cena and Nikki were also able to bring their relationship onto WWE TV as part of a storyline that led to them teaming together at WrestleMania and Cena then proposing in front of 70,000 screaming fans. It seems that Nikki got the fairytale she always wanted and now hopes to have a WrestleMania wedding too, something that WWE will probably allow. The company has been backing the duo for the past five years and Nikki is currently tearing it up on Dancing With The Stars too, which can only be helping to promote WWE further.

Wants To Split: Paige And Alberto Del Rio

Paige and Alberto Del Rio's relationship was doomed from the beginning. The couple announced that they were dating in the spring of 2016, a year that didn't turn out too well for either star.

Del Rio was still married when he and Paige began dating, and his wife later filed for divorce. WWE split the couple up as part of the WWE Draft last summer, which saw Paige moved to Raw and Del Rio to SmackDown. The company was then reported to have told Paige that if she didn't split up with Del Rio, then she was going to be fired, which is why there were rumours that Paige was looking for ways to get released by WWE before she failed the Wellness Policy tests. The past year and a half for the couple hasn't been easy, as it seems that their relationship has come with a number of obstacles to overcome.