The Biggest Feuds in WWE History

Wrestling fans argue about a lot of things. Which era was better, which match is the greatest of all time, whether the product today holds up against what came before. But ask anyone, casual viewer or lifelong fan, which rivalries stopped the world for a moment, and the same names come up every time. 

Some of these feuds made careers. Some of them saved the whole company. These storylines are what keep the fans coming back, and have become the backbone of  many cards. 

Grudge matches on the biggest stages  like Wrestlemania bring millions of eyes to the sport, with the stories echoing well beyond the usual echo chamber of wrestling fandoms to mainstream news and even to boosted odds promotions at NetBet Sport and other bookmakers. 

So, without further ado, let’s look at some of the most bitter and hotly contested rivalries in WWE history. 

Stone Cold vs The Rock

If you think WWE rivalries, this is the first thing that comes to mind. Not because WWE has not tried to replicate the Austin vs Rock rivalry, but because the specific ingredients that made Austin and Rock work together are just not repeatable. Austin was already a phenomenon by the time their feud properly got going, the beer-drinking, authority-hating Texas Rattlesnake who the entire arena was behind from the first note of breaking glass. Rock was something else entirely, a performer who could get a crowd to switch from booing him to cheering him and back again inside the same promo, sometimes on purpose and sometimes just because he felt like it.

They fought at three WrestleMania’s. The match at WrestleMania X-Seven in Houston is still in the conversation for the greatest of all time. The crowd that night was something different. 67,000 people who already knew they were watching history. And they were right.

Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage

The Mega Powers exploding is still one of the best-told stories in wrestling history. Savage became absolutely convinced that Hogan wanted Miss Elizabeth for himself, which is the kind of storyline that should not work on anyone over the age of ten. It worked on everyone. Savage’s jealousy slowly boiling over across months of television, the moment he finally snapped and turned on Hogan, the crowd losing their mind at both. 

WrestleMania V in 1989 was billed as The Mega Powers Explode and it delivered on every bit of that. Savage was a better wrestler than Hogan, probably a better talker too, and this was the feud that made the whole world notice. Hogan won the match. But Savage walked out of that rivalry with more credit than he went in with.

John Cena vs Randy Orton

This one ran so long that fans were making jokes about it by 2013. Cena and Orton had already been at each other for years by then, and WWE kept finding reasons to go back to it because the match always delivered even when the crowd had started rolling their eyes at the announcement.

The 2009 run is the best of it. Orton was genuinely frightening that year, this cold and calculating character who seemed like he enjoyed hurting people, and Cena chasing him down with that relentless comeback energy created real tension across a long stretch of television. A decade-long rivalry does not survive unless both people are pulling their weight. Both always did.

Shawn Michaels vs Triple H

Most people forget these two were friends first. DX. One of the most popular acts in wrestling history, two guys who seemed completely untouchable together. And then Triple H turned on Michaels and the thing they had built just collapsed, and suddenly both had to figure out who they were without the other one to lean on.

Triple H became the most dominant villain in the company over the years that followed. Michaels went on to have the greatest in-ring career of his generation. Both things grew directly out of this feud. You can draw a straight line from those mid-90s matches to every big moment either man had afterward.

CM Punk vs John Cena

An unpopular pick for many, but one of the shortest high-intensity rivalries in history. And it’s all thanks to June 27, 2011. Punk sat down on the entrance ramp at the end of Raw, microphone in hand, and talked for several minutes about everything WWE did not want him saying out loud. His contract was expiring. He was leaving. And he had a few things to get off his chest first.

The match at Money in the Bank in Chicago three weeks later was one of the loudest arenas in the history of the company. Chicago was Punk’s city and every single person in that building was screaming for him. He won the title. He left through the crowd. The place went sideways.

Cena and Punk made wrestling feel real that summer in a way it rarely does. The matches were great. The promos were better. And for one stretch in 2011 the whole company felt electric in a way it had not been in years, entirely because two performers decided to mean what they were saying.