10 Best Friends-To-Enemies Storylines During WWE's Attitude Era

The Attitude Era was a great time for layered storytelling since fans got used to expecting swerves and surprises quite often. Names like The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H and Mick Foley at the top of the card already made it easy to book for them. WWE had a deep roster with many future legends also in the tag landscape, mid-card scene, and start of a women’s division.

Quite a few angles existed with the same overall storytelling device of close friends becoming enemies. WWE loved to use the term “good friends, better enemies” to describe that kind of an angle. There were varying levels of success for these ideas playing out during that time. The following wrestlers took part in the friends to enemies storylines of the Attitude Era in WWE.

10 The Rock & Rikishi

One of the worst instances of WWE trying to force a friendship into a feud saw The Rock and Rikishi having it follow their paths. Rikishi became a beloved face in the Too Cool faction and teamed with Rock to sell their background as distant relatives in the Samoan Dynasty of WWE wrestlers.

However, it was all done to set up a major swerve when Rikishi was revealed as the driver than ran over Steve Austin with a car. Rikishi claimed he did it for Rock to become the top star, but Rock resented that. The heel turn for Rikishi led to failed feuds with both Rock and Austin.

9 Mankind & Al Snow

Another odd story featured Mick Foley’s babyface portrayal of Mankind referencing his friendship with Al Snow. Foley loved to crack jokes about Snow with that dynamic of their friendship providing laughs. Snow turned heel when he framed The Rock for throwing Foley’s autobiography in the trash.

Mankind and Rock eventually realized what happened to get back on the same page, but this led to Snow and Foley becoming enemies. Snow wasn’t a real match for Foley, so it was a short feud that saw Al turning face after a few weeks to get back to his ideal character.

8 The Undertaker & Kane

Undertaker v Kane Survivor Series 1998 Cropped

WWE made The Undertaker and Kane reunite less than a year into their storyline starting with them as enemies. The Brothers of Destruction became a united force against Steve Austin, Mankind and various other mutual rivals since they had an advantage.

However, the story saw them going from enemies to best friends as brothers back to enemies again. Undertaker started to show a heel side that left Kane out to dry when bringing back Paul Bearer. Kane turned face for his own run, while Undertaker formed the evil Ministry of Darkness faction.

7 Billy Gunn & Road Dogg

Many fans forget about the New Age Outlaws breakup storyline since it went by so quickly. D-Generation X ended in early 1999 with Road Dogg and Billy Gunn trying to continue their team. This changed when Billy turned heel on Road Dogg to get his own singles push.

WWE started to get behind Gunn as a potential top heel and had him weak a short feud over Road Dogg. Unfortunately, the push picking up steam with his King of the Ring 1999 win and a feud with The Rock just exposed Billy as not being on that level. WWE reunited the New Age Outlaws and DX later that year.

6 The Rock & Faarooq

The Nation of Domination played a massive role in the careers of both Ron Simmons and The Rock. Simmons aka Faarooq led the group after he had a weak introduction to save his career. Rock benefited even more from joining since he was coming off a failed babyface run.

The friendship between Rock and Faarooq formed as the two main members of the Nation. However, their dynamic changed when Rock tried to pass Faarooq as the leader. All other members sided with Rock to kick Faarooq out and start the bitter rivalry.

5 Triple H & X-Pac

WrestleMania 15 featured one of the most intricate storylines of the Attitude Era. Everyone thought Chyna joined The Corporation until she helped Triple H defeat Kane. This was not the swerve fans realized as Triple H turned heel later that night to reveal he was joining Chyna in The Corporation.

X-Pac was the one betrayed when Triple H cost him a match against Shane McMahon for the European Championship to end D-Generation X. The two former friends feuded, but X-Pac never felt like an equal to a main event bound Triple H.

4 Eddie Guerrero & Chyna

WWE found a great storyline when Eddie Guerrero and Chyna became an unlikely romantic pairing. The two personalities became best friends while falling in love. However, the overlying story of Chyna being a babyface and Eddie starting off as a heel kept us wary.

Guerrero was a face for a short while until his old habits doomed the couple act. Chyna posing for Playboy made Eddie jealous until he was caught cheating on her. The two entered a personal feud that involved Billy Gunn and the Radicalz helping their respective friends post break-up.

3 Steve Austin & Kurt Angle

One of the biggest shocks of the Attitude Era featured Steve Austin turning heel to unite with Vince McMahon at the end of the WrestleMania 17 main event. The backstage segments saw Kurt Angle involved as he and Austin had a friendship based on trying to one up each other impressing Vince.

Austin betrayed them both during the Invasion angle when he joined WCW and ECW’s side. Angle remained on the WWE side for a face turn and a great rivalry with Austin. An argument can be made that this feud was the peak of the otherwise hated Invasion angle.

2 Kane & X-Pac

WWE found success with the most unlikely tag team of Kane and X-Pac. Both babyfaces were betrayed by Chyna, Triple H and the rest of The Corporation. Their odd couple tag team became a huge hit as Kane started to show more personality as a babyface.

Unfortunately, Kane felt more betrayal when X-Pac ended the team to turn heel and reunite with Triple H in a heel DX version. Tori even entered the angle as Kane’s girlfriend who also betrayed him for X-Pac. Kane and X-Pac had a bitter feud that paid off an underrated story of unlikely friends becoming enemies.

1 Edge & Christian

The tag team run of Edge and Christian saw WWE using their childhood friendship to claim they were brothers. Edge and Christian got over together as part of The Brood before breaking out even more on their own as a hilarious tandem.

Vince McMahon always viewed Edge as the bigger star between the two and actually ended their tag team run in about three years. Edge winning the King of the Ring tournament in 2001 led to Christian growing jealous and eventually attacking him. The former best friends had a blood feud with some underrated violent matches culminating in Edge winning.