10 Best Wrestling PPV Cliffhanger Endings

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.