10 Totally Backwards Wrestling Match Stipulations

In 2006 and 2007, TNA held their Fight for the Right Tournament, a multi-staged process to determine the number one contender to the TNA title.

The first stage was a reverse battle royal, where the objective was to beat your opponents by climbing over the top rope and INTO the ring. In theory, the concept works and was admittedly original.

In practice, though, it was awful. Wrestlers who regularly entered the ring by hurdling the ropes or were high-flyers suddenly lost all their dexterity and couldn't even get on the ring apron. Wrestlers spent time wailing on each other outside the ring instead of running for a clear space and taking a few seconds to climb into the ring.

Competitors who weren't scheduled to go any further in the tourney were just wandering around outside the ring, looking lost and apparently forgetting the ONE rule of the stipulation was to just get over the top rope.

Then, to further cap off the foolishness, the next stage of the match was a traditional over the top battle royal, meaning that all the time and effort to get into the ring was for the most part wasted. The last two men standing then had a one-on-one match to progress further.

The 2006 match was universally scorned and was tweaked a bit for 2007, but after that TNA quietly let the reverse battle royal concept die.