The 1st Royal Rumble event took place on January 24th, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This event was also the 1st and only time that the WWFwould air the Royal Rumble event on free TV as a TV special for the USA Network. The special would become the highest watched wrestling program on cable TV at the time.
Our commentators are Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura. Basically the TV commentators since I don't think Vince ever did commentary on PPV till the 90s. If I'm wrong, let me know.
Entrant #1: Bret Hart
Entrant #2: Tito Santana
It doesn't surprise me that these two are our 1st two entrants as it's a good way to continue the Hart Foundation/Strike Force feud. Bret takes control at the start, but Santana starts to fire back. Bret takes back control soon after as Vince and Jesse discuss the thought of who #3 could be. Vince also mentions Santana's partner Rick Martel coming down, except he's not in the match. Of course, why he's not in the match and why they bring it up are both good questions, and before you ask, no(to the best of my knowledge) Martel wasn't injured, so you're guess is as good as mine. Bret works to get Santana over the top rope as the countdown starts.
Entrant #3: Butch Reed
Santana fights off Bret and hits the Flying Forearm on Bret as Reed enters, who precedes to beat on Santana. Reed tries to eliminate Santana, but fails and gets his noggin rocked into Bret's for his trouble. Santana starts to mount a comeback, but focuses his attention on Reed and leaves himself open to an attack from Bret as we get the 2-1 double-teaming that you'd probably expect we would. And then...
Entrant #4: Jim Neidhart
To say Tito Santana is 10 stages past fucked at this point would be an understatement. Santana avoids a high knee from Reed that nearly eliminates Bret and tries to fight back, but is eventually taken down and triple-teamed. This includes a spot involving the Hart's backbreaker/elbow smash move and Reed helping Neidhart out and it just looks weird to me. The triple-teaming continues as the 3 try to eliminate Santana when the countdown starts.
Entrant #5: Jake Roberts
Roberts comes out to a big ovation as he quickly dumps Reed to the floor.
Elimination #1: Butch Reed(by Jake Roberts)
Roberts fights off both Hart and Neidhart as the faces take control. Jake sets up Bret for the DDT and it's amazing to remember a time when that move was so over. Of course, Neidhart saves his partner as the heels take back control with Bret giving Santana a piledriver as the countdown starts.
Entrant #6: Harley Race
Race starts dropping elbows on a downed Roberts with assistance from Neidhart. Both men try to eliminate Roberts while at the same time, Santana tries to eliminate Bret, forcing Neidhart to save his partner once again. Roberts knocks Bret down, but falls to a Harley Race falling head-butt as #7 comes out.
Entrant #7: Jim Brunzell
A member of the often overlooked Killer Bees tag-team, Brunzell goes in and immediately goes after the Harts and is actually able to fight them both off well as Roberts is working Race and Santana is taking a breather. He nearly gets Bret out and gets all the faces trying to get him out, but once again, Neidhart saves him. The Faces and Heels start pummeling each other as the countdown starts again.
Entrant #8: Sam Houston
OK, not gonna lie: I actually had to look up who Sam Houston was cause I had forgotten him. Anyway, Houston fight off a tiring Hart Foundation as he enters as we see more face vs heel matchup, which is something I'll talk about in my final thoughts. Mostly pummeling here until The Harts toss Santana.
Elimination #2: Tito Santana(By Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart)
Jesse immediately says "That evens it up." which is also something I'll talk about in my final thoughts.
Entrant #9: Danny Davis
Easily one of the more over heels at the time(and possibly the biggest heel in this match), Davis comes out to chorus of boos, he squares off with Houston cause they're both jobbers and mostly cause they were feuding at the time. Roberts has Race in this weeble-wobble spot which is kind of interesting, but not much else happens other than your usual Rumble chaos.
Entrant #10: Boris Zhukov
Zhukov joins the fray and goes to work on Houston(anybody starting to notice a pattern?) An interesting moment happens when Race, for a brief moment works on Zhukov, breaking the whole face vs heels thing... before they go right back to it. Almost as if it didn't happen.
Entrant #11: Don Muraco
Muraco comes out with Nikolai Volkoff right behind him. When they both get to the ring, the refs hold Volkoff back, which allows Muraco to take a cheap shot on Volkoff and enter the ring so that Volkoff can't get to him. Our babyface, ladies and gentlemen. Volkoff continues to argue with the refs as his tag partner Zhukov gets tossed.
Elimination #3: Boris Zhukov(by Jake Roberts(2) & Jim Brunzell)
Vince & Jesse are surprised considering Zhukov came in not too long ago and was eliminated by two men who have been in for quite some time. Brunzell nails his dropkick on Bret. What I find funny is that Vince & Jesse don't seem to get how stupid it is for Volkoff to try to come in early. Houston and Davis continue their battle on the ropes as the countdown appears.
Entrant #12: Nikolai Volkoff
Finally, Volkoff enters. Not too long after that, Muraco clotheslines Race over the top rope.
Elimination #4: Harley Race(by Don Muraco)
Obviously, Race isn't too happy and tries to get back in, but is held back by those pesky officials and everyone else just brawls by the ropes.
Entrant #13: Jim Duggan
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Now that I got that out of my system, let's continue. Duggan has a brief brawl with Race on the outside before going in and working over Neidhart and soon after Bret.
Entrant #14: Ron Bass
Bass comes in and quickly goes to work on Muraco. Vince gives Bass the 'This guy is made for this match.' which is code for: Midcarder who has no chance of winning... well, then again, everyone in this match is at best a mid-carder(at the time of the match) and this will not be the last time they use that phrase. Back to the Rumble, Volkoff body slams Brunzell over the top to the floor.
Elimination #5: Jim Brunzell(by Nikolai Volkoff)
Duggan finally realizes there's a Russian in the ring and goes to work on him. So after, the countdown starts.
Entrant #15: B. Brian Blair
The 2nd half of the Killer Bees, Commentary points out how unlucky he is since his partner was just eliminated a moment ago. Blair works on Davis and the Harts, with Jesse complaining about Blair going right for Bret.
Entrant #16: Hillbilly Jim
I must admit, I forgot how tall Hillbilly Jim was. Jim, who might be the highest ranked midcarder at that point, goes in and makes quick work of Neidhart
Elimination #6: Jim Neidhart(by Hillbilly Jim)
Vince is surprised at how quickly Jim eliminated Neidhart and wonders how muck longer Bret can last. Blair is almost eliminated at the hands of Bass while everyone else brawls.
Entrant #17: Dino Bravo
Earlier in the show, Bravo had a segment where he successfully bench pressed 715 pounds(an at the time record) with a little help from Jesse Ventura and Vince constantly brings it up. Hey, it's more interesting than watching Bravo wrestle, or brawl in this case. More interesting is Houston up on Bass's shoulders and Houston get dumped to the floor.
Elimination #7: Sam Houston(by Ron Bass)
Thankfully, Houston lands on his ass and not his head cause if he had... yeah, I'll let you picture it. More brawling as the countdown starts. Bravo and Muraco start slugging it up in a prelude to their match at Wrestlemania IV.
Entrant #18: The Ultimate Warrior
This is only a couple of months after the Warrior made his WWF debut. As he begins working on Bass, Muraco tosses Bret.
Elimination #8: Bret Hart(by Don Muraco(2))
Vince and Jesse give credit to Bret for staying in as long as he did. Although, I'm surprised they didn't let Bret go coast to coast and let him stay to the 30 min mark, especially since it's in Canada.
Entrant #19: One Man Gang
Arguably, the closest guy of the 20 here to the main event, Gang trots in and quickly takes care of business by eliminating Blair.
Elimination #9: B. Brian Blair(by One Man Gang)
And then not long after that, Gang eliminates Roberts.
Elimination #10: Jake Roberts(by One Man Gang(2))
You talk about making a good impression in a Rumble? Well, take notes cause that's how you do it.
Entrant #20: Junkyard Dog
The final entrant in this Rumble(remember, only 20 in this one) JYD flies to the ring as commentary picks who they think will win. Duggan gets Volkoff over his shoulders and sends him to the floor.
Elimination #11: Nikolai Volkoff(by Jim Duggan)
Jim goes after Davis, who somehow is still in there, but Davis starts raking everyone's eyes to survive. This allows the Gang to get Jim over his shoulders and eliminate him
Elimination #12: Hillbilly Jim(by One Man Gang(3))
Jesse says this match is the Gang's type of match and you just know he's screwed when something like that is said. Duggan finally gets Davis and hits the 3-Point Stance Clothesline to eliminate him
Elimination #13: Danny Davis(by Jim Duggan(2))
But what's more surprising is that Gang and Bravo casually toss Warrior out.
Elimination #14: The Ultimate Warrior(by Dino Bravo & One Man Gang(4))
I would've thought it was a no-brainer to give the 1st Rumble to Warrior as they continue to build him up as the next biggest superstar, next to Hogan, but no. He's eliminated and no one bats an eye at it. This wouldn't be the last time Warrior should've won a Rumble, but that's for later. Anyway, we're down to 6, but not for long and Gang rakes JYD's eyes and then Bass comes up from behind and eliminates him.
Elimination #15: Junkyard Dog(by Ron Bass(2))
However, Bass gets a taste of his medicine as Muraco comes up from behind Bass and clotheslines him out.
Elimination #16: Ron Bass(by Don Muraco(3))
And now, we're down to the Final 4: Muraco, Duggan, Bravo and Gang. The heels take control as Gang avalanches Duggan in the corner and Bravo and Gang look to double-team on Muraco. He's able to fight them off for a bit, but thanks to a distraction from Bravo's manager Frenchie Martin(yes, that was his name), Gang and Bravo take back control. They use the heel holds the face allowing the other heel to clothesline him spot that has never worked in the history of ever; except here, it might be the only time ever that it actually did work.
Elimination #17: Don Muraco(by Dino Bravo(2) & One Man Gang(5))
And now, Duggan is screwed. Not like how Santana was earlier, but he's still screwed nonetheless. Like Muraco, he's able to hold them off for a moment, but is eventually double-teamed. They repeat the clothesline spot, but this time it goes the way it always does with Gang 'accidentally on purpose' eliminating Bravo.
Elimination #18: Dino Bravo(by One Man Gang(6))
I use the phrase 'accidentally on purpose' because Gang hit Bravo, but Bravo doesn’t go over the ropes. Gang then blatantly shoves Bravo over, hence the phrase 'accidentally on purpose'. What's even funnier is that Gang immediately goes into an act of “Oh no! I did not mean to clothesline you over!”. If you look at it as a botch, it's pretty funny, but from a kayfabe standpoint, Gang is just being an asshole and fakes innocence to save face and that is just hilarious.
Anyway, we're down to our Final 2 with Gang spending almost all of it beating down on Duggan until he low bridges a charging Gang and eliminates him!
Elimination #19: One Man Gang(by Jim Duggan(3))
WINNER: JIM DUGGAN!
Stats:
Royal Rumble Ironman: Bret Hart(25:42)(Record)
Shortest Time: Junkyard Dog(2:30)(Record)
Most: Eliminations: One Man Gang(6)(Record)
Final Thoughts:
To put it simply, without this match, we wouldn't have the other 30 years of Royal Rumble events, so you have to give it some appreciation and it does have some historical value, but beyond that, this Rumble is one of the worst Rumbles of all-time. This was truly a case of 'Throwing things at the wall and see what sticks' and to be fair, some things did stick, but a lot of others didn't. The biggest problem this Rumble has going for it is that it's trapped by the status quo of the WWF(at the time) of ALWAYS having faces vs heels. Even though they say at the begining that it's "Every man for himself", it quickly deteriorates into a typical faces vs heels match. Hell, a couple of times during the match, Jesse would say things like "It’s 3 on 3 right now!" or "That evens it up" when there are three heels and three faces in the ring, even though they hadn’t squared off as anything resembling two separate units. Other problems include the match itself having 20 participants instead of 30(especially since I'm pretty sure the WWF had a roster to support a 30 man match), the lack of a prize or reward to the winner and even the logo not being the classic Royal Rumble logo that we all know and love. Instead, they give it a regal look and I just roll my eyes thinking whoever designed that logo took the Royal Rumble name too seriously. Also, Jim Duggan being the 1st winner of the Royal Rumble match was just... meh to me. At least his will forever live in Pro Wrestling Immortality by winning. Thankfully, the WWF would fix the kinks and made this a fan-favorite match, but as for this one, if you haven't seen it, do so, but unless you like to binge-watch all the Rumble Matches like I do, there's really no reason to watch it again.
Final Rating:
3.5 out of 10
I want to hear your opinions, guys. What did you think of the 1988 Rumble Match? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter https://twitter.com/ThenWoReviewer and while you're there, be sure to follow me cause I have more reviews on the way. Until then, I have one thing left to say...
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