Royal Rumble (1988 TV Special) User Reviews

The start of another tradition

[bh_tafe3 · 6/10 · 12 February 2009]

The Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant rivalry was raging on as 1988 rolled around and the NWA had the temerity to put on a PPV in late January. Not taking that lying down the WWE decided to put on a live TV special based around a innovative new match type. Now, I have heard that there actually was a twenty man Royal Rumble at an earlier house show, but the ring announcer screwed up by giving away the winner before the match started. How true that is, is up for debate, but what is certain is that this was the first time a Rumble match had been seen on TV. The NWA would return the favour on the night of Wrestlemania IV with Sting and Ric Flair headlining a Clash of Champions special on TV. Cable operators quickly wised up realising that this TV vs PPV war the WWE and JCP/ NWA were running was costing them a fortune and so brought it to an end.

There were a few matches on the undercard but a sensible amount and the 1988 Royal Rumble was a good show.

The night started off with The Ravishing Rick Rude losing to Ricky Steamboat in a fun little match. Rude was a very talented wrestler and it's a shame he passed away in the late 90s. This match was followed by Dino Bravo trying to break the World Weightlifting Record and doing so with a little help from Jesse Ventura. Admiteedly this wasn't great television, but the crowd seemed into it so why not? Next up comes a two out of three falls match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship as the Glamour Girls take on the Flying Bomb Angels. These two teams had been feuding for quite a while and the Bomb Angels finally got their title win here.

Following this is the event everyone was tuning into see, the contract signing for the rematch between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant for the WWE Title. Hogans signs the contract as does Andre and then Andre destroys Hogan in underhanded fashion. Vince McMahon on commentary had never seen anything like this before while Jesse Ventura thought it was brilliant. Andre would beat Hogan for the title in the rematch, but then forfeit the title to the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, which would lead to WWE President Jack Tunney vacating the title and scheduling a 14 man tournament for Wrestlemania IV.

Next up is the Royal Rumble match and it does the job. Bret Hart was the first man in the ring and lasted the longest, clocking in at 25 minutes, The One Man Gang who came in at No.19 in the 20 man Rumble match had the most eliminations with 5, but Hacksaw Jim Duggan got the final elimination, using OMG's momentum to get him on the floor and win the first Royal Rumble match (or the second if the legend is true).

Craig DeGeorge interviews Hulk HOgan backstage "That was a bad thing to do brother. But Hulkamania's the strongest force in the universe and we're gonna run wild on you," or words to that effect.

The last match of the night is a two out of three falls match with the Islanders defeating the Young Stallions 2-zip in a best two out of three falls match. Roma tagged in despite not being able to walk which costs them the match. Not bad.

Now Craig Degeorge is off to interview the evil Million Dollar Man "Hahahhahhah. Everyone has a price for the Million Dollar Man." Never get sick of hearing that.

Vince and Jesse talk about what we've just seen, and so will I. This was a reasonable show. I mean younger fans probably wouldn't like it, but it kept the rubbish to a minimum and most of the wrestling action was either entertaining or made sense. I liked it, but freely admit it's not for everyone.

The Royal Experiment

[paudieconnolly · 7/10 · 30 April 2021]

In the beginning the first four participants end up three on one , when Jake the snake appeared 5th the crowd go wild feeling this could even the odds. This could have been the point where Vince McMahon thought this might work and an annual event was born. Still one of my favorites in wrestling. Hard to believe people felt it shouldn't work.

Great concept. Outdated show

[morantjavonte · 5/10 · 24 June 2022]

Royal Rumble 1988 Thoughts.

Royal Rumble 1988 was the first ever Royal Rumble event produced by the WWE (Then-WWF). It took place on January 24, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with attendence at 18,000. This event was aired as a TV special and at the time had a wrestling TV record of 8.2 rating. Due to this show not being a PPV exclusive, the Royal Rumble in some people's view is really the 4th PPV of the big 4 created due to SummerSlam airing on PPV and the next year's Rumble 89 airing on PPV instead of TV. This show was really intended to hurt the Viewership of the NWA PPV that was airing at the same time.

The 2 most advertised slots would be the Hogan/Andre the Giant segment that would leave to them having a match on TV for the WWF Championship. Storyline was Andre falling for Ted DiBiase money power of getting close to the WWF Championship. Of course with the name, we were also introduced to the concept of the Royal Rumble only this would consist of 20 men.

The Good - The WWF Women's Tag Team Championship match was surprisingly a fun match to watch. Considering the WWF's lack of caring for Women's wrestling at this time, it's a surprise this match was indeed the highlight of all matches. The segment between Hogan & Andre was definitely intense at this time and didn't let down for the anticipated final confrontation. Ted DiBiase was playing a good role in this. As for the Royal Rumble it did indeed kept everyone entertained and was a huge success. Being an original it was almost a basic old school battle royal match where most faces battled the heels.

The Meh - The opening was pretty average. It started out as a snooze fest which is shocking due to Ricky Steamboat never having a boring match and even more shocking to wrestle against another good star and not connect. The main event was average and really was just a random match to put the Islanders over. An injury to one of the Stallions might have affected it.

The Bad - The choice of main event for this special was poor. The crowd really couldn't get into the match after the excitement of the Rumble and Hogan/Andre segment gone through. Was just a filler. Also the Dino Bravo weight lifting was such a drag and went on way too long. It was very long and stupid.

Overall - Despite the quality of this show being bad, it still was a success for the Royal Rumble Foundation and for a TV special, it looked to be a fun show at the end with nothing too much to look down on at the end. For my rating if I give it lower than what I choose, I feel I will be being too harsh but higher, I'd be being too nice.

Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre

0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time

1. Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat - 2.5/5

2. The Glamour Girls vs. The Jumping Bomb Angels: WWF Women's Tag Team Championship (2 out of 3 Falls) - 3/5

3. 20-Man Royal Rumble - 2.5/5

4. The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions (2 out of 3 Falls) - 2/5

Best Match - The Glamour Girls vs. The Jumping Bomb

Worst Match - The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions

Most Memorable Moment - Andre filpping table over Hogan

Top 5 Performers

1. The Glamour Girls - Good Performance

2. The Jumping Bomb - Good Performance

3. Bret Hart - Good Performance

4. Jim Duggan - Really Over

5. Ricky Steamboat - Good Performance.

WWF tv show vs NWA ppv

[sickthings81 · 17 April 2003]

This is the original Royal Rumble with a new wrestler coming in every 2 minutes. The WWF aired that show from ontario at the very same time that the old NWA was putting on Bunkhouse Stampede, that was January the 24th of 1988. The Rumble match for its time was refreshing and the opening bout with Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat was decent. However few wrestling fans will now be able to enjoy that kind of entertainment, but is today's fast-food wrestling really better? Please let me know.

Mediocre...

[markovd111 · 6/10 · 14 February 2022]

First match was decent, but was almost completely ruined by a woman from the crowd yelling on a megaphone. Luckily, someone told her to stop very soon. After that Dino Bravo attempts the next world bench press record and it's a waste of 20 minutes. After that Hogan and André are signing a contract and that's actually decently interesting and after that comes a main event which is serviceable, but nothing spectacular. Last match is nothing to remember because it's so blatantly fake it's boring. Commentators were Vince and Jesse are commentators, but Vince wasn't able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jesse then in the art of commenting the matches and events. All in all, the first isn't always the best, but it's still a nice piece of fun if you like WWF/WWE or wrestling entertainment in general. 6/10!

A famous event in its infancy. Would go on to be great.

[b_kite · 4/10 · 18 April 2022]

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in front of a crowd of 18,000 on January 24, 1988.

Match 1: Ricky Steamboat defeated Rick Rude by disqualification - Singles match (17:39) - Starts out pretty good then drags a bit in the middle then gets exciting towards the end leading to a sucky DQ finish. These two would go on to have plenty of better and more memorable battles over the years to follow especially in WCW. 5/10

Wrestler Dino Bravo attempts to break the world bench press record of 705 lbs set in 1985. He does it but with the obvious help of spotter Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Not sure if Bravo actually thought he won this or if it was all planned for heal heat, but it's incredibly boring. It does showcase how good of a heel Ventura was. Bravo would go on to get involved in organized crime and would be murdered by gunshot in his home in 1993, a murder which still to this day is unsolved.

Match 2: The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki) defeated The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai) (c) (with Jimmy Hart) (2-1) - Two-out-of-three falls match for the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship (15:00) - A good fast paced match. There's a lot of great offense here especially from the Angels. The pop from the crowd when they win the match is awesome. Sadly, the Women's Tag Titles wouldn't last but another year, not making a return till 2019. 6/10

Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant sign a contract for the duos rematch at WrestleMania IV. The storyline is that heel Andre is working for "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase who is trying to buy the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. So, if Andre wins the title, he'll deliver it to him. A good segment mostly because of the legends involved. Andre still looked intimidating despite the fact his mobility was pretty much gone at this point.

Match 3: Jim Duggan won by last eliminating One Man Gang - 20-man Royal Rumble match (33:00) - The first Royal Rumble event is surprisingly not bad; it starts with a young Bret Hart and Toto Santana. The over guys have to be Jake "The Snake" Roberts who the fans cheer for to perform his DDT move with no luck. Junkyard Dog, and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan so it makes perfect since why the later won as at the time he was practically a mid -card Hulk Hogan. The event itself would get better in following years. 5/10

Match 4: The Islanders (Haku & Tama) defeated The Young Stallions (Paul Roma & Jim Powers) (2-0) - Two-out-of-three falls match (14:00) - An ok tag match it feels like it goes on forever, Roma however sells the crap out of a fake leg injury that leads to the two's downfall. 5/10

Overall, this is primarily just a low to mid-card showcase from start to finish with the Hogan and Andre contract signing thrown in as a cherry on top. McMahon and Ventura are solid on commentary, this wasn't even a PPV just a national event held on USA Network to try and screw over NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions Bunkhouse Stampede 1988 event. It was an idea in its infancy that would go on to be an acclaimed event. 4/10.

The most elusive Royal Rumble finally issued on DVD.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 9/10 · 26 December 2017]

This experimental version of the Royal Rumble P.P.V, was actually shown on cable television and in Canada, rather than in America. The main event consisted of 20 wrestlers instead of the usual 30. My guess is that the reason for this, was so Vince McMahon could be sure that the Royal Rumble would be successful. Hence why there were 20 participants. The matches that take place are very good on the whole. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat had one of his last matches for the WWE against Ravishing Rick Rude. It was billed as being something of a grudge match and it sure was. This is a knock down, drag out affair and the action is thick and fast. Rarely did the fans get to see women in action but we do here. The women's tag team champions The Glamour Girls took on the Asian team of The Jumping Bomb Angels in a two out of three falls match up. After witnessing the latter team at the First Annual Survivor Series from the previous year, this title encounter was on the cards. The results are excellent and shouldn't be missed. The baby face team of The Young Stallions took on The Islanders in another two out of three falls match. The action was a bit restricted due to one wrestler being a bit injured but it was a good encounter all the same. I'm not so sure why so much time was taken with Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant signing their contracts for their title rematch. It all seemed pointless to me. Then we have the Canadian strong man Dino Bravo showing off how strong he is by giving the fans a demonstration. Jesse Ventura was on hand to add some controversy (as he usually did) by assisting Bravo with his bench-pressing. The result was never officially recognised nor was the whole demonstration. The Rumble event itself was great. The likes of The Ultimate Warrior, Don Muraco, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Dangerous Danny Davis, One Man Gang, The Hart Foundation and others took part. It lasts about 33 minutes which is quite short but worth viewing for sure. Several years ago, this exceptionally elusive event was finally released on DVD but is hard to obtain. If you can find it, then buy it!

Royal Rumble 88

[adamau04 · 5/10 · 15 November 2005]

January 24th 1988 - Hamilton, Ontario, Copps Coliseum

Match #1 Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat Vs "Ravishing" Rick Rude Winner: Steamboat By DQ

Match #2 Women's Tag Team Championship 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Match Champs: The Glamour Girls Vs The Jumping Bomb Angels Winner: Angels By 2 Falls To 1

Match #3 20 Man Royal Rumble Match 1. Bret "Hitman" Hart 2. Tito Santana 3. "The Natural" Butch Reed 4. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart 5. Jake "The Snake" Roberts 6. "King" Harley Race 7. "Jumping" Jim Brunzell 8. Sam Houston 9. "Dangerous" Danny Davis 10. Boris Zhukov 11. "The Rock" Don Muraco 12. Nikolai Volkoff 13. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan 14. "Outlaw" Ron Bass 15. B. Brian Blair 16. Hillbilly Jim 17. Dino Bravo 18. Ultimate Warrior 19. One Man Gang 20. Junk Yard Dog Winner: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan

MAIN EVENT 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Match The Young Stallions Vs The Islanders Winner: The Islanders By 2 Falls To 0

The first and start of a classic "WWE" annual event, as Hacksaw(Hi Oh!) wins the first Royal Rumble!

[blanbrn · 9/10 · 14 March 2023]

The then "WWF" started a gem event in 1988 when they came up with the "Royal Rumble" event the headline and attraction is a battle royal type, with the only difference is that with 20 grapplers they draw an ordered number, in which they enter the ring then ever 2 minutes another contestant enters! And when a wrestler is thrown over the top rope they are out of the match and the last man standing is the winner! It was wild ring action it was hard to watch as many wrestlers duked it out at the same moment! And the bad guys would help the bad guys fight against the good guys! The key to a victory was to draw a late number! Anyway this first one from Canada(and oddly enough televised on the "USA" cable network before the rumbles would later become annual "PPV" events) was well remembered and fun as mister "Hi Oh!" "Hacksaw Jim Duggan would be the winner as he was clever and a brute and he outsmarted the One Man Gang to become the first ever Rumble winner!

The 88 Royal Rumble had it teases as it featured bad guy Dino Bravo trying to break the world bench press record(you make the call I believe he got a little help from ex wrestler and bad guy commentator Jesse Ventura). And the program featured a contract signing for a world title rematch between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.

Other undercard matches were pretty good as the opening grudge match was full of action between Ricky the Dragon Steamboat and the now late Rick Rude, which ended in a DQ victory for the Dragon. And two tag matches that involved winner take two out of three falls, the last match(which was oddly after the main attraction of the Royal Rumble battle) a tag match that featured the Islanders winning against the injured duo of the Young Stallions. And very memorable and exciting high flying fun was the second match that being a women's world tag team championship match between The Glamour Girls and The Jumping Bomb Angels. As the Japanese duo angels(who were attractive and could do some athletic moves) would become world tag team champs, really this match was a wild card treat. Overall well done "WWF" event the classic first one which started the yearly tradition of "The Royal Rumble".

One of the best Royal Rumble but for reasons not yet listed.

[MovieCriticMarvelfan · 7 June 2003]

First of all, this Royal Rumble was actually free to view on Cable on USA Network, before the WWF events went to PPV. Also this Rumble along with Royal Rumble 1989 were the only Rumbles in which the WWF and Vince McMahon didn't sell out to a wrestler like Hulk Hogan and basically make the event a no brainer. Hulk Hogan was Vince McMahon main kiss ass and big money drawer, but McMahon often "fixed" matches to launch that Hulkamania fever /garbage in which many idiotic fans would fall for (except me) before it was dashed by the Steroids Fiasco in 1991 but that's a long story.

The event itself was wonderful, great matches, and a showcase of the talent which would emerge to be legendary and house hould names in WWF: Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan , Jake "The Snake", The "Magnificent" Morocco and Honky Tonk Man to name a few.

First Rumble to be won by the "Hacksaw" and one of the best. Not even released on video, but several copies exist, if anyone's interested.