10 Best Wrestling PPV Cliffhanger Endings
"As of right now, be ready to forget what you think you know about this industry..."
Of all the things lost during WWE's long-term creative demise, cliffhanger endings are among the most missed.
Vince McMahon's promotion rarely pull them off anymore. Raw, SmackDown, and pay-per-views are now much likelier to end on a whimper than a roar. Moments like Becky Lynch's WrestleMania 35 triumph prove they're still capable of closing with something joyous, and, in fairness, most 2019 PPVs have featured celebratory finishes. Genuine shockers have largely gone the way of the dodo, though.
The cliffhanger's demise is easily explained: WWE haven't needed to do them for the best part of a decade, so they don't.
Such endings were critical in the days of direct competition. Not only did WWE need to convince you to return for the next show, but they needed to keep you away from WCW as well. This forced them to close shows on angles and outcomes that compelled the audience to return so they'd learn how the drama would be resolved. Without competition, and with the Network negating the need to sell pay-per-views, the writers have become complacent.
Also, Vince is batsh*t insane.
So insane that he has created an accidental uprising...
10. Kurt Angle’s Shocking Debut (TNA No Surrender 2006)
Christian had debuted in TNA before Kurt Angle, but this felt less like a jump, and more like a throw of the die for a midcard fixture with more belief in himself than WWE had ever shown.
Kurt Angle was different; released by WWE over health concerns in 2006, TNA benefitted from (or exploited) his dragon-chasing recklessness. In an atypical move—the company normalised its subsequent acquisitions to an often hilarious extent—TNA framed Kurt Angle as a massive get by closing a pay-per-view with his vignette and creating a huge, buzz-worthy news story.
That vignette was incredible; TNA captured the imagination of the wrestling world by framing Angle as a super-intense wrecking machine and removing any and all comedic overtones. This version of Angle was no joke.
Subverting Angle’s old WWE catchphrase, the Olympic gold medallist said “It’s real—it’s damn real”—exquisitely conveying the impression that this was a manifested dream for the company and its fans.