Royal Rumble '88

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble '88

January 24, 1988 from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ON

 

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura

 

This very first Royal Rumble was born from the WWF/Jim Crockett Promotions scheduling tit for tat that had started the previous fall. Round 1 was WWF putting the first Survivor Series directly against Starrcade while also strongarming cable companies to carry the WWF show on their single PPV channel. To try to recoup some PPV buys, Crockett decided to put their annual Bunkhouse Stampede final on PPV. WWF pounced again, countering with this special on basic cable USA at the same time (PPV distributors politely asked to not be put in a position to have to choose between the two promotions again), while at the same time trying out Pat Patterson's crazy idea of having a battle royal with staggered entrances determined by a random (or "random") draw.

 

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Ravishing" Rick Rude by DQ in 17:39- I hate Rude's overdubbed music so much. Why after all these years have they not been able to fix that situation. It plays all during Vince's show intro too, with a really bad mix. Ah hell, and then we get Steamboat's eternal replacement music and recording studio Howard Finkel intro. Bobby Heenan isn't with Rude because he's wherever the other half of the house show loop roster was. There's a lady ringside with her own megaphone trying to be Jimmy Hart. How did she even get in the building with that? Much more lax security and show controls back in those days. Rude opens up with some forearms. Steamboat fires back with chops. We get an early skin the cat from Steamboat, then he dumps a charging Rude over the top to the floor. Rude's out of the Rumble. Back in Rude wants a test of strength, then lets himself get distracted by the lady with the megaphone. Steamboat goes in for the knucklelock. Very even battle, then Rude gets a slow advantage. The crowd wills Steamboat back up. Steamboat does a fancy sequence to escape and get an arm takedown into an ARMBAR. A+ selling of the arm work from Rude. Speed run. Steamboat slides under Rude and hits the first DEEP armdrag of the match. Commentary notices the megaphone woman. While Steamboat cranks on the arm I'll note Dave Hebner is reffing this match. At the same time over at Bunkhouse Stampede his twin brother Earl was working his last show with Jim Crockett before moving over to WWF and becoming their senior ref for many years. Another forearm/chop exchange. More speed and whip reversals. Steamboat hits a running chop and another DEEP armdrag. The arm work continues. I like Steamboat big splashing the arm. Rude gets free with a kick and gives Steamboat a buckle shot. Back elbow from Rude. More buckle shots all around the world. More slide unders from Steamboat into another DEEP armdrag. Can't fault Steamboat's focus, he's 100% on Rude's arm. "BREAK IT OFF" says megaphone lady. Rude works into another whip and hits another back elbow that catches Steamboat in the eye. That'll slow him down. Rude tries to pose but only can with one arm, the other one hurts too much. He's still putting all the pieces together, but it's that attention to detail that will eventually turn him into a phenomenal worker. Another slugfest with Steamboat getting the edge with chops. Another long speed run and Rude just barely catches Steamboat with a knee to the gut, sending Steamboat tumbling out to the floor. They did a good job of making that look glancing, it almost looked like a legit accident at first. Rude follows to the floor, ramming Steamboat into the side of the ring and slamming him on the floor. He's recovered enough to give us a hip swivel back in. Rude suplexes Steamboat back in for 2. He sits on Steamboat's back with a double chinlock. Steamboat's tapping like crazy trying to fire back up, but fortunately for him we're still in the verbal submission only days. Rude takes a moment to pose again, much to Ventura's delight. Steamboat fades and we go to arm drops. Steamboat's arm goes down three times, but for some reason DHebner doesn't call it. Someone muffed up there. On the fourth drop Steamboat fires back up. He lifts Rude up into an electric chair (first "WHAT A MANEUVER" from Vince tonight for that) and drops him. He tries for a splash but Rude gets his knees up. Atomic drop-ish from Rude that Steamboat doesn't sell very well. Back to the chinlock. Steamboat powers up again and pushes Rude into the corner. Buckle shots for Rude. Snap mare/chop combo for 2. After headlock/headscissors exchange they *barely* pull off the bridge up spot and Steamboat gets a backslide for 2. That kicks off the classic Steamboat rapid fire cover attempts. Rude drops Steamboat with a clothesline for 2. Steamboat blocks a suplex and hits his own. He points up top and goes up there. Rude pulls DHebner in the way and Hebner takes the crossbody! Rude puts Steamboat up in a Canadian backbreaker. Hebner gets up and calls for the bell. Rude thinks Steamboat submitted, and Rude's (shitty replaced) music plays. He walks away thinking he's won. BUT WAIT! Fink says the winner by DQ is Steamboat! Cue up the other shitty replacement music. Rude gets back in the ring to protest as we go to commercial. Very dull and paint by numbers for a while, but they got going much better in the second half. These two would reconnect in WCW over the US title in 1992 and put on some absolutely incredible matches. **1/4

 

We come back to Mean Gene on the interview stage with Ventura, along with some weightlifting equipment. Apparently Dino Bravo is going to attempt some kind of feat of bench pressing here tonight. Ventura has volunteered to spot for him. The bench press world record is 705 pounds, and Bravo is going to have a go at breaking that tonight. OK then. He's also going to do this in his wrestling gear. Weird workout clothes. Ventura narrates Bravo putting powder and gloves on, then he says we're going to start with a "warm up" lift at.....415 pounds. Smeg. That's a long way away from 705. Couldn't he have done that backstage? Bravo then tries to wake the crowd up by doing the heel thing of saying he needs total silence to make sure he gets anything but. 415 is easily cleared with multiple reps. Great, now we can go up to 705 right? No, of course not. They slowly work up by increments, going from 505 to 555 to 595 to 655 (Ventura even had to think about that one), all with the requisite heel stalling in between lifts. This goes on, no exaggeration, as long as the last match did. Finally we get to 715, which would be a new record. But Ventura stresses it's UNOFFICIAL because the bar has to be weighed after. Why not before? And who knew weightlifting had so many rules? Oh for frak's sake, now Bravo teases walking away to try to make the crowd react. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THIS. Finally they do the lift and of course Bravo can't do it so Ventura helps him out, then they claim Bravo did it and broke the record. It's a testament to how great Okerlund was on his feet that this segment didn't completely fall to pieces. That was as entertaining as watching some random dude across the gym lift weights.

 

Next up is a match for the WWF women's tag titles. Wait, WWF had women's tag titles? Yes they did, something modern WWE doesn't want you to remember. If you'll indulge me and my title lineage obsession for a moment I'll explain. The NWA had women's tag titles dating back to the early '50s alongside the singles women's title. When the WWF withdrew from the NWA in 1983 as part of their plan to go national, eternal NWA women's champ The Fabulous Moolah was under WWF contract and in legal possession of both the NWA women's and women's tag title belts, so she sold them all to WWF. The now WWF women's title became one of the centerpieces of the Rock 'N' Wrestling era thanks to pop star Cyndi Lauper's involvement. The women's tag titles flew under the radar, but they were also active and defended from '83 on. The Glamour Girls had held them about two and a half years coming into this show.

 

2 out of 3 Falls Match for the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship: The Jumping Bomb Angels def The Glamour Girls (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) n 15:40- Jobber entrance for the champs, that's never a good sign. The Bomb Angels have been a sensation since signing with WWF from All Japan Women's, bringing a style no one outside Japan had seen in women's wrestling to this point. Since I've mentioned it so much I should point out someone from the arena or WWF has finally confiscated ringside lady's megaphone. No stepping on Jimmy Hart's gimmick.

FIRST FALL- The Angels lose patience, run over and double shotgun dropkick the champs! Kai quickly dodges another dropkick attempt by Tatento and tosses her around by the hair. Martin slam on Tatento. Tatento does her fancy bridge out, the Angels' legs are freaking tree trunks, and rolls Martin up for 2. Yamazaki lifts Martin up for a possible piledriver but just suplexes her instead. Tatento traps Martin in a body scissors while Ventura ribs McMahon about not knowing the Angels' names, which he hasn't even tried to say yet. Vince's excuse is he can't speak Japanese. Weak. Names are easy, you don't have to speak the language for that. Tatento tries a crossbody but Martin catches and slams her. Tatento dodges an elbow drop attempt. Kai tags in but quickly gets worked over. All the women are moving at top speed and then some. Hitting the ropes as hard as the guys. Yamazaki gets Kai in an Inoki-style octopus hold. Martin comes in to break it up. Stereo figure fours on the champs from the Angels! Yamazaki holds it on Kai a bit longer, then hits a couple of unique split legged drops on Kai's legs. Kai then gets wrapped up in an Indian death lock. Again an attempted champ double team goes awry. Yamazaki tries a kick off the top rope on Martin but Martin blocks it and drops her. Kai kicks Yamazaki in the back from the apron. Big modified German suplex from Martin, and that gets the pin for the first fall.

SECOND FALL- Since we're on regular TV there's commercial breaks between each fall. Martin opens up with another hair toss on Yamazaki. Flying forearm from Martin. Splash and Yamazaki does another crazy bridge up. She dodges another Martin splash attempt. Tatento comes in with a dropkick. Diving clothesline. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Crossbody for 2. Someone must have handed Vince the Angels' names during the break, but he still gets them all wrong. Double suplex from the Angels. The Girls get maneuvered into clotheslining each other. Martin clotheslines Yamazaki and lifts her up for a powerbomb. Yamazaki flips over into a sunset flip and gets a pin to even the match up!

THIRD FALL- At the bell the Angels quickly hit some more double teams on Kai. Yamazaki hits Martin with an enzuguri. Tatento tries for a fisherman's suplex but Martin blocks it and chops her back down. Tatento tries a corner floatover cradle but Martin blocks that too. Double underhook suplex from Kai for 2. Kai bites Tatento's hand! That's heel work. Martin makes a tactical error, kicking Tatento so hard she falls in her own corner and tags out. Martin gets Yamazaki trapped in the heel corner and Kai chokes her. Yamazaki blocks a strike and plants Kai right on her tailbone. Another one and a cover for 2. She deposits Kai in the corner and flips Martin in the ring. Guess that was a tag. Slam/top rope kneedrop combo from the Angels for 2. Tatento double underhook suplex with a bridge for 2. Flying tackle from Yamazaki for 2. Martin dodges a second rope senton attempt and covers for 2. Tatento clothesline off the second rope. Kai breaks the pin up. Both Angels go up top. Double missile dropkick! Tatento covers and gets the pin to win the titles! HUGE pop from the crowd for the win too! Great wrestling always gets over. That's definitely one of the best women's matches from the period, everyone was working their asses off in there. The Angels were pioneers that don't get the credit they deserve today, bringing pure joshi puroresu to American (and Canadian) audiences decades before it became more mainstream. ***1/4

 

The Glamour Girls would regain the titles in June on the Bomb Angels' home turf, an All Japan Women's show. They won the match by countout, but it's standard rules in Japan that titles can change hands on countouts. It's discouraged because it's considered a tainted and cheap title win by most honorable wrestlers, but it's legally possible. By this time WWF was doing less and less with their dwindling women's roster, and the titles were deactivated in February '89. There wouldn't be another tag title for the women until the creation of the modern ones in 2019.

 

Next up is one of the centerpieces of this show, the contract signing for the big Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant rematch. Before getting going we revisit the Wrestlemania 3 encounter and the near fall early in the match that Andre and Heenan have argued in the near year since really was a 3 count and pin. A new wrinkle in the long running feud is the arrival of Ted DiBiase in WWF. True to character, he declared he was going to buy the WWF Championship instead of win it in a match. Hogan, naturally, refused the money on principle. We then get footage of Andre attacking Hogan after Hogan's match on the last Saturday Night's Main Event. After that is a clip from weekly TV of Andre promising DiBiase that if he beats Hogan for the title, he'll happily sell the title to DiBiase. DiBiase has also bought out Heenan's contract and taken over as Andre's official representation.

 

Back to live. Andre comes to the ring, accompanied by DiBiase and Virgil. Mean Gene officiates this, and WWF President Jack Tunney is also here to show how important it is. Mean Gene calls Hogan out to the usual Hogan pop. Side note, this is the final major appearance of the pre-Winged Eagle belt. The Winged Eagle will be introduced in the Hogan/Andre rematch. You may be cool, but you're not as cool as Andre casually chilling against the ropes during Hogan's entrance, absolutely zero fucks given. Textbook nonchalance. Tunney tries to get everyone to the very tiny table that's been set up in the ring. Hogan does sit down. Andre doesn't move a muscle. After some pleading from Okerlund and conferring with DiBiase Andre finally sits. DiBiase takes the mic and eggs on Hogan to sign. Hogan has enough and signs it. Over to Andre. Andre takes a look through the paperwork. DiBiase points out a little sweetener he got in for Andre. One Hogan probably didn't even read. Andre continues to read, annoying Hogan no end. Finally Andre is satisfied and signs. DiBiase tells Andre to put his "stamp of approval" on it. He grabs Hogan and smashes him into the table! End scene. Good stuff for a contract signing, with both DiBiase and Andre nailing their roles.

 

The match would take place just a couple of weeks after this, February 5 on a special live Friday night edition of usually pretaped SNME on NBC called simply The Main Event. The big rematch drew what is still to this day the largest TV rating for any wrestling program in history. The match saw Andre win very controversially thanks to some referee twin magic with the Hebner brothers, ending Hogan's title reign at just over four years, the last of the classic multi-year title reigns that were the norm in the company to that point. He then immediately tried to hand the title over to DiBiase as promised. That would lead to the title being vacated and the tournament to crown a new champion that made up the bulk of Wrestlemania 4.

 

Royal Rumble- This first ever Rumble is a 20 man affair, which was generally considered normal size for a battle royale at the time. As I mentioned at the top, this was Pat Patterson's brainchild and this first one he was trying to prove to a skeptical Vince the concept would work. Entrances are (theoretically) at the 2 minute intervals that will be standard for a long time, though elimination is loosely described as "over the top rope" without mention of one or both feet hitting the floor. We'll see how that holds up. Since we've got a house show style partial roster for this show rather than a full PPV one there's not going to be a lot of top stars in this. The first two guys are already in the ring as The Fink goes through the Rumble rules for the first time ever, which means he *really* has to explain it because no one's ever seen this before.

1 & 2. Bret "Hitman" Hart and WWF Tag Team Champion Tito Santana- Weird Santana is in this but his Strike Force partner Rick Martel isn't. Strike Force defeated the Hart Foundation for the tag titles so there's definitely priors here. Pretty standard match back and forth start. Santana hits the brakes under a Bret leapfrog and does some ground and pound on him. Bret fires back with an inverted atomic drop and the elbow off the second rope. We get the 10 second countdown clock on screen for the first time. It's a little thing, but crucial to making this work as intended.

3. "The Natural" Butch Reed- As Reed is coming in Santana hits Bret with the flying forearm, but then Reed is all over him. That gives us our first real elimination tease. Bret needs to fix his kneepads, one of them is backwards all the way down on his ankle. The heels double team Santana as natural alliances form. There's no countdown clock before the next entrant. Teething troubles.

4. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart- I bet Santana really wishes Martel was in the match now. The Harts quickly gang up on him, with Reed joining in. Santana still somehow manages to save himself from being eliminated.

5. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- HUGE pop for the biggest babyface star in the match. The heel trio is still trying to get Santana over. Roberts comes from behind and dumps Reed! The first ever Rumble elimination. He pounds away on both Harts and whips them into each other. Roberts calls for the DDT on Bret. Anvil murders Roberts with a clothesline to stop that quick. Bret piledriver on Santana as we count down again.

6. "King" Harley Race- Anvil holds Roberts while Race drops elbows on him. Lots of fluidity so far as guys are constantly moving and changing pair offs. So far the layout is working very well.

7."Jumping" Jim Brunzell- Brunzell goes right after the Harts and nearly gets Bret out before Anvil grabs his leg to save him. 

8. Sam Houston- No way he's going to last in this, dude weighs maybe 50 pounds. Bret and Santana continue to focus on each other while Roberts and Anvil seem to have something going on too. The Harts get back together, grab Santana and toss him out.

9. "Dangerous" Danny Davis- The former ref that's aligned with the Harts. He goes right for Houston, the easiest target. Race does some see sawing in the ropes off Roberts punches. Davis escapes a Roberts DDT attempt.

10. Boris Zhukov- Good Party man Zhukov goes right for capitalist pig Texan Houston. Nothing to do with the fact that he's, again, the easiest pickings out there. We finally get some "every man for himself" as Race gives fellow heel Zhukov some shots, but it doesn't last long. 

11. "The Rock" Don Muraco- We have our first real frak up of the night as next entrant Volkoff comes out right behind Muraco, but the way it's played I think it was intentional to show that guys can't get in before their number comes up. The contingent of refs ringside stop Volkoff from coming in. Roberts and Brunzell slowwwwwwwwly teeter Zhukov over the top to eliminate him while his partner helplessly watches.

12. Nikolai Volkoff- After the full countdown the refs let Volkoff in. After a lot of very obvious setup Muraco gives Race a shot against the ropes and Race goes 360 and out! Pissed Race tries to get back in but the refs won't let him. 

13. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan- With 2x4. Race is still there and naturally these two were feuding, or at least had last year. Duggan shoves Race aside. Race clotheslines him! As he leaves Duggan initially follows, then turns back around and gets in the ring. 

14. "Outlaw" Ron Bass- I'm not sure who I'm more surprised is still in, Houston or Davis. Volkoff straight muscles Brunzell up by the ropes and dumps him out. At almost the same time Muraco does a crazy upside down flip into the corner. 

15. B Brian Blair- Get rid of one Killer Bee, another one takes him place. Lots of brawling all over as the ring has filled up but nothing much of note.

16. Hillbilly Jim- One of the biggest guys in the match. Amazing how they always seem to draw late numbers. Jim quickly dumps Anvil out! Jim gets Davis sitting on the top rope, then takes him down and then tries to dump him out. Horrible thinking there. Bass throws Blair over the top but he lands on the apron, not an official elimination. Figuring out where the lines are. 

17. Dino Bravo- Fresh off destroying the world bench press record and don't you dare question it. Houston gets up on Bass' shoulders which seems like a REALLY bad idea. And as I type that Bass easily drops Houston down to the floor and out. Honestly shocked he lasted as long as he did. 

18. The Ultimate Warrior- Making his first major appearance and very much still a work in progress. Zero reaction from the crowd for him. He's wearing Hogan yellow and red for some reason. Muraco tosses Bret out. #1 entrant Bret lasted a bit over 25 minutes, becoming the first Rumble ironman. Warrior and Bravo pair off, which is not at all pretty to watch.

19. One Man Gang- Speaking of big guys with late numbers. THE biggest guy in the match has arrived. He quickly makes his presence felt. Out goes Blair. Out goes Roberts, a big elimination.

20. The Junkyard Dog- JYD is the first lucky last entrant, and we have 10 of the 20 entrants still in the ring and in contention. Duggan dumps Volkoff over and out FOR AMERICA. OMG gets Jim up and out. OMG easily the biggest left now. Duggan sets Davis up against the ropes, gives him the 3 point stance clothesline and Davis is out. He also lasted way longer than anyone would have thought. Bravo and OMG get Warrior out. Bass grabs JYD and gets him over and out! Man, he just plain caught JYD napping there. So much for luck of the draw. Muraco nudges Bass in the back of the head and Bass essentially throws himself over and out. It's a long while before it'll become A Thing, but we have our unofficial first final four.

FINAL FOUR: Muraco, Duggan, Bravo and OMG- Conveniently there's two faces and two heels left. OMG squashes Duggan with an avalanche in the corner. He goes for one on Muraco but Muraco rolls free. The heels try to corner him but Muraco fights them off. Dropkick on OMG and he teeters near the ropes. Bravo's manager Frenchie Martin gets on the apron and Muraco dropkicks him off. Bravo holds Muraco, OMG clotheslines him, and Muraco is out. The heels turn their attention to Duggan, who looks like a dead man walking. Small standoff and Bravo calls the play. Duggan tries to fight both of them, which starts good but doesn't last. Double clothesline on Duggan. Bravo sets Duggan up near the ropes just like he did Muraco. Duggan ducks and OMG clotheslines Bravo out! Duggan jabs on OMG. OMG counters an ill advised backdrop attempt. He chokes Duggan on the ropes. OMG charges. Duggan ducks, pulls the top rope down, and OMG goes out! Hacksaw Jim Duggan is the first ever Royal Rumble winner!

 

This first Rumble isn't going to blow any minds, but as a proof of concept match it does everything it needs to do and does it very well. Make some adjustments- raise the entrants to 30, get the top guys in, play into the "every man for himself" concept more (or at all), and make some massages to the layout and in short order the Rumble will be not just a yearly fixture, but possibly the most anticipated single event in wrestling every single year. As I write this nearly 40 years later it still is. ***

 

Hogan joins us on the in arena interview stage. He's so fired up after Andre's cheap shot earlier he tears his shirt off. 

 

2 out of 3 Falls: The Islanders def The Young Stallions in 14:59- Tacking on a fairly pointless match to close out the show, which was a pretty standard thing for regular TV at the time. Saw it all the time on SNME.

FIRST FALL- Powers and Tama start while commentary goes over the whole angle the Islanders are involved in where they dognapped the British Bulldogs' mascot Matilda. That will get a final payoff at WM. Powers gets the edge with some punches and a slam. Tama slowly slides to the floor to recover, then offers an insincere handshake back in. Vince says the bench press segment was so boring it almost put him to sleep. Shoot comments! Powers hits an atomic drop. Both sides dodge and tag. Roma cranks on Haku's arm. Speed run and they massively frak up a hiptoss counter spot. Haku recovers quickly with stomps. Roma hits a crossbody barely on target for 2. Double back elbow from the Stallions. The Islanders get Powers down and slowly get him in peril with some double teams. Haku/Powers double clothesline. Both sides tag. Hot tag run from Roma. Tama begs off but Roma stays on him. Dropkick. Backdrop. Another dropkick. Tama eye rakes and tosses Roma over the top rope, helped by Haku pulling the rope down. Roma hurt his knee on the fall and can't get back up on his own. He's counted out to give the Islanders the first fall.

SECOND FALL- No, wait. Roma is in the back getting his knee worked on, so we get rebuttal promo time with Andre and DiBiase instead. While the Islanders are still in the ring. It's perfectly fine but nothing of real note is said. Once they're done the Stallions make their way back in, Powers clearly helping Roma walk.

SECOND FALL FOR REAL- Despite Powers' protests Roma is forced to start the fall as he was legal for the end of the last one. Tama is quickly all over the hurt knee. Roma gets his knees up on a splash attempt but that hurts him just as much. He is able to get a tag out to Powers. Powers backdrop on Haku for 2. Buckle shots and a clothesline for another 2. Dropkick for 2. Suplex for 2. I'm just noticing, there's a lot of empty seats across from hard camera. A lot of people left during the last promo segment. Haku fires back with a shot to Powers' gut and tags out. Double headbutt from the Islanders. Powers counters Haku into a small package for 2. Backbreaker from Haku for 2. Flying back elbow from Tama. Haku standing dropkick for 2. Gutwrench suplex for 2. He hooks on an abdominal stretch. Monsoon would definitely criticize how badly that is applied. Powers dodges a senton. Powers kicks Haku, then takes an obvious bump himself like Haku had hit him. The hell was that? Big chop from Haku. A dropkick goes right over Powers' head but Powers sells it anyway. This is falling to pieces. Powers actually tags hurt Roma back in. Roma tries to slug it out with Haku but Haku kicks his leg out of his leg. Tama big splashes Roma's knee off the top rope. Haku puts on a half crab and Roma quickly submits. Meh. That felt little more than an unneeded tack on to make the show longer. The injury break and promo gave it a weird flow too, not to mention they had several very ugly botches. *1/2

 

As the show closes Vince is STILL bitching about Ventura cheating during Bravo's bench press segment. Sure, focus on by far the worst part of the show as the final moments. 

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Come for the historic first Rumble, stay for one of the few genuinely good women's matches of the era. The Andre/Hogan promo to set the big rematch up is really well done, but the bench press segment was slow motion torture.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

 

v2.0 published 8/15/26