Stone Cold’s: Five wrestling relationships that ended in disaster as Cena and Bella separate

John Cena and Nikki Bella

It will be known as the WrestleMania moment turned sour.

John Cena lit up Camping World Stadium at WrestleMania 33 when he proposed to Nikki Bella, but now it is all over.

One of wrestling’s biggest power couples announced they have separated just weeks before their wedding day.

It came as a shock to everyone, because despite Cena saying in the past he would not get re-married, it appeared he was going to go through with the decision to make Nikki his wife.

However, it is not to be, a statement released on Nikki's Twitter read:

"After much contemplation and six-years of being together, Nikki Bella and John Cena announced today their decision to separate as a couple."

They are not the first wrestling relationship to bite the dust, and almost certainly will not be the last, with the nature of the business not conductive to finding love.

For every couple like Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan there are hundreds who do not find a way to make it work, with some becoming more destructive and toxic than others.

We look at five couples who tried to find love in the squared circle but saw it fall apart in dramatic style:

Matty Hardy and Lita

Matt Hardy and Lita were in a relationship until 2005

Matt Hardy and Lita were in a relationship until 2005

You cannot think "wrestling love-triangle" without thinking of Matt Hardy, Amy 'Lita' Dumas and Adam 'Edge' Copeland.

Hardy and Lita were two thirds of 'Team Xtreme' and a real life couple in the early 2000s. She would accompany Matt and his brother Jeff to the ring, and the crowd loved the chemistry between the three, with Matt and Lita in a genuine relationship.

With Lita recovering from a neck injury and Matt on the road she begun bonding with Edge which eventually led to the pair kissing (whilst Matt was out injured) and becoming romantically involved.

When Matt found out his girlfriend and best friend were having an affair he took to the internet to vent his frustrations and ended up getting fired from the company in the process. With a swell of fan and backstage support he was rehired and put into a programme with the couple.

It did lead to a great feud between the two, and the birth of the 'Rated R Superstar' version of Edge, but it took its toll emotionally on all involved. Matt Hardy is now married to Reby Sky and Edge married fellow wrestler, Beth Phoenix.

Sunny and Chris Candido

Sunny and Chris Candido had a long and rocky relationship

Sunny and Chris Candido had a long and rocky relationship

Arguably the most tragic and toxic wrestling relationship in modern history, Tammy 'Sunny' Sytch and Chris Candido tore each other apart, with Candido passing away in 2005 at the age of 33.

The pair fell in love in high school and Candido were besotted ever since, even being described as following her around like a puppy dog.

Sunny has admitted to having a nine-month affair with Shawn Michaels in the mid-90s, and numerous wrestlers have expressed their bafflement that Candido continued to stick by her side.

She was also accused of having a fling with Bret 'The Hitman' Hart by Michaels, in the now infamous 'Sunny Days' promo that caused a huge split in the WWE between the Kliq and Hart family.

Until the end Candido remained loyal to Sunny. Despite the locker room urging him to end it with her on numerous occasions, he would reply: "But I love her."

Kurt Angle and Karen Jarrett

Kurt Angle was married to Karen until 2008

When Kurt Angle entered the pro-wrestling business in 1998 he did not expect for its soap opera to affect his personal life.

Following his switch from WWE to TNA in 2006, Angle's relationship with his first wife become more strained as he struggled with an addiction to prescription drugs.

It was at this time Karen met her future husband Jeff Jarrett. Kurt and Karen divorced in 2008 and she began seeing Jeff, when Dixie Carter (the then owner of TNA) asked Jeff if an affair had happened he denied it, but an employee exposed them on a radio show. Carter suspended Jeff for lying.

As is nearly always the case in wrestling, the couple were brought back to feud with Kurt Angle in 2009, with the storyline playing out on TV.

Kurt got re-engaged in 2010 and Jeff and Karen are still together.

Lex Luger and Miss Elizabeth

Miss Elizabeth got re-married to Lex Luger after her relationship with Randy Savage ended

Miss Elizabeth got re-married to Lex Luger after her relationship with Randy Savage ended

She was the 'First Lady of Wrestling' and many chose to remember Miss Elizabeth in the corner of 'Macho Man' Randy Savage.

A real life married couple, Elizabeth would accompany her husband down to the ring and was involved in many memorable angles - none more so than with Hulk Hogan.

However, after their divorce in 1992 she jumped to WCW where she met Lex Luger with the pair forming an uneasy and rocky relationship.

At least one count of domestic violence occurred and drugs became a problem for the both of them. When she was found dead on April 30th 2003 it was put down to a combination of painkillers, nausea medication, tranquillizers and alcohol.

Stone Cold Steve Austin and Debra

Stone Cold Steve Austin was arrested for domestic violence towards Debra

Stone Cold Steve Austin was arrested for domestic violence towards Debra

One of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling has a past that the WWE unsurprisingly likes to keep quiet.

Stone Cold met Debra McMichael in 1998 and by 2000 they were married, starting a brief three year spell that saw the Texas Rattlesnake arrested and charged with misdemeanour assault.

Steve Austin plead no contest and received a year's probation, a $1,000 fine (Sh100, 000) and was forced to carry out 80 hours community service.

They divorced in 2003, and Debra has gone on to speak about steroids and drugs in the wrestling industry, suggesting links between that and domestic violence.