Royal Rumble (1988)

Royal Rumble 1988 was the first annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling event from the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 24, 1988 in the Copps Coliseum located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Unlike the subsequent Royal Rumble events, this event was not shown on pay-per-view and was instead a television special shown on the USA Network.

[edit] Results

Ricky Steamboat defeated Rick Rude
- Steamboat won the match by disqualification when Rude pulled the referee in the way while Steamboat jumped off the top rope. (17:39)

Two out of three falls match for the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship: The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki) def. The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai) (w/Jimmy Hart) (c)
- Martin pinned Yamazaki (6:10)
- Yamazaki pinned Kai (8:19)
- Tateno pinned Martin to win the championship (15:40)

Jim Duggan won the 1988 Royal Rumble
- The final two participants were Jim Duggan and One Man Gang. Duggan won the match when he ducked One Man Gang's charge sending him over the top rope. (33:25)
  - The just-eliminated Harley Race got into a brief scuffle with Jim Duggan as they crossed paths during Duggan's entrance. The two were feuding at the time.
  - Nikolai Volkoff came out prematurely right after Don Muraco, and had to be forced by referees to stay outside the ring before his time is up.

Two out of three falls match: The Islanders (Haku & Tama) def. The Young Stallions (Paul Roma & Jim Powers)
- Roma was counted out. (7:52)
- Haku defeated Roma by submission. (14:59)

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

Entrant		Eliminated		Time
1	Bret Hart	8	by Don Muraco	25:44
2	Tito Santana	2	by Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart	10:43
3	Butch Reed	1	by Jake Roberts	3:28
4	Jim Neidhart	6	by Hillbilly Jim	19:13
5	Jake Roberts	10	by One Man Gang	21:59
6	Harley Race	4	by Don Muraco	10:12
7	Jim Brunzell	5	by Nikolai Volkoff	12:12
8	Sam Houston	7	by Ron Bass	14:44
9	Danny Davis	13	by Jim Duggan	18:00
10	Boris Zhukov	3	by Jake Roberts and Jim Brunzell	2:41
11	Don Muraco	17	by One Man Gang	16:32
12	Nikolai Volkoff	11	by Jim Duggan	11:43
13	Jim Duggan	-	WINNER	15:20
14	Ron Bass	16	by Don Muraco	10:25
15	B. Brian Blair	9	by One Man Gang	5:57
16	Hillbilly Jim	12	by One Man Gang	6:02
17	Dino Bravo	18	by One Man Gang	8:21
18	Ultimate Warrior	14	by One Man Gang and Dino Bravo	3:58
19	One Man Gang	19	by Jim Duggan	7:06
20	Junkyard Dog	15	by Ron Bass	2:18

During the event, Dino Bravo made a world record attempt to bench press (allegedly) 715 lbs. Bravo was successful but with the help of spotter Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
A contract signing was held at this show between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant for a WrestleMania III rematch at The Main Event for the WWF Championship.
This Royal Rumble features the smallest amount of entrants ever at twenty.
Bret Hart was the first to set a longevity record for a Royal Rumble, lasting 25 minutes.