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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Jordan Wiggins, PWTorch.com reader

Once a year, TNA provides the one match that takes the cake as being the most confusing and counter-productive, and that is the upcoming King of the Mountain match. The rules to this match will give any casual fan a headache. So much so, that TNA wrestler Chris Sabin (who is competing in an X-Division KOTM) told fans that they should simply "turn off their brains" during the match. (Read Sabin's comments.)

Its statements like that which continues to stifle TNA's growth as a legit competitor to the WWE machine. The King of the Mountain match is convoluted in its rules, and just does not measure up to a typical ladder match in its drama. For those who still aren't clear on them, here are the rules:

(1) In order to win, you must climb a ladder and hang the belt on a clip that is suspended high above the ring.

(2) You must pin or submit an opponent first, before you are eligible to hang the belt.

(3) If you are pinned/submitted, you must go into a penalty box, and be retained for two minutes before you can re-enter the match.

(4) No DQs, no count-outs, every man for themselves.

People will say "that's not that complicated." If it isn't then why did Sabin say what he said? It has to be because he knows that the match is too complicated to explain as well. The match is complicated, because TNA has "little sibling syndrome" in which they strive to be different from their older siblings for the sake of just being different (Reverse Battle Royal; Six-Sided Ring).

Not only is the match complicated, but it defeats the purpose of the ladder match concept to begin with. The ladder match is supposed to represent reaching high and far for something desired by many. To grab your destiny. To reach for greatness. Why would I want to have the destiny in my hands, and then go hang it up?

It's the same as when you were a child, and your parents put a plate of sweet, delicious cookies on the counter that you couldn't reach. What did you do? If you wanted them that bad, you got something to climb up and grabbed those tasty cookies. Now, what if you did your chores, and your parents put those mouth-watering cookies in your hand? Are you going to eat them, or are you going to get something to climb up and put those lovely cookies on the counter?

I don't know of any children that doesn't eat cookies. Just the same as I don't know why any wrestler who would pin someone in a title match, be handed that precious, hard-earned title, and not run out of the building with it.

With that said, TNA's obsession with "more is better" brings us the penalty box concept. This isn't hockey, this is wrestling. Earning the right to climb the ladder via pin or submission is fine, however, the penalty box gimmick is just another way that TNA doesn't understand the KISS concept.

KISS means Keep It Simple, Stupid (stupid being a pronoun). If A.J. Styles pins Kurt Angle, then Angle should be down from whatever A.J. did to earn the pin. It's called selling, something the X-Division doesn't believe in for some reason. The Penalty Box is just a gimmick used for spot-monkeys to do spots off of and pop the crowd, but it doesn't necessarily add to the drama of the match - it's more of a distraction from it.

If TNA could do away with the penalty box and instead of hanging the belt up, they take the belt down - like in a typical ladder match - the KOTM match will be more tolerable, more exciting, and, more importantly, fans's brains can be left "on" while watching it.

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