Jeff Jarrett Discusses TNA's King Of The Mountain Match

Jeff Jarrett's time in TNA is a divisive topic amongst wrestling fans. One of Jarrett's major contributions during his time at the top of TNA's main event scene was the King of the Mountain match, which included labyrinth rules and even a penalty box. 

On a recent episode of "My World," Jarrett felt that the match had an unearned bad reputation, as he felt it worked as a narrative engine.

"It's good storytelling. Why is it criticized? I think a narrative gets started," Jarrett said. The former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion believes that a vocal minority was levying a lot of TNA's initial criticisms. "The reality is, the very small sample of these thumbs up or thumbs down, I think it totals in this particular PPV 100." 

Jarrett noted that the audience for the PPV was somewhere around 30,000. 

"That fraction of thumbs up/thumbs down, is it really reflective [of audience satisfaction]?" Jarrett asked. The former WCW World Champion doesn't think so.

The King of the Mountain Match involved a number of wrestlers. Whenever a wrestler pinned or submitted a wrestler, the defeated wrestler is sent to a penalty box, and the successful wrestler is deemed "eligible" to win the match by hanging the title belt on a hook from the ceiling, essentially a very complicated Ladder Match, but in reverse. The match was introduced in 2004 and became a yearly staple of TNA's Slammiversary shows in 2005, 2006, and 2007. It was put on hiatus in 2009, and not used again until 2015. The first-ever Queen of the Mountain Match was won by Jordynne Grace in 2022.