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Introduction
The 1988 Royal Rumble was the first one ever broadcast. Up until now, it had been run at house shows without much success. The brainchild of Pat Patterson, the WWF had a TV special on the USA Network. With Pat at the helm, he booked the match, introduced a rudimentary countdown (previously the entrants entered the match at random), and was a huge success. It was the highest viewed wrestling program on cable TV at the time with an 8.2 rating, turning it into a January based Pay Per View and becoming the fourth of the “big four” PPV’s the following year, after Wrestlemania, Survivor Series and Summerslam.
In the match – “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan won the titular match, last eliminating The One Man Gang to win the match. No prizes were for winning said Royal Rumble, although technically Duggan competed for the title at that year’s Wrestlemania, albeit in the Wrestlemania VI tournament, where he was eliminated in the first round by “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase.
24th January, 1988
Hamilton, Canada
Copps Coliseum
18,000
33:24
Notable Records
| Record | Individual |
|---|---|
| Winner | Jim Duggan |
| Iron Men | Bret Hart (25:45) |
| Least time in Match | Junkyard Dog (02:09) |
| Most Eliminations | One Man Gang (6) |
| Potential Winners (wrestlers in the ring after last entrant) | 10 (Jim Duggan, One Man Gang, Dino Bravo, Don Muraco, Ron Bass, Junkyard Dog, The Ultimate Warrior, Danny Davis, Hillbilly Jim, Nikolai Volkoff) |
| Number of debutants | 20 (Bret Hart, Tito Santana, Butch Reed, Jim Neidhart, Jake Roberts, Harley Race, Jim Brunzell, Sam Houston, Danny Davis, Boris Zhukov, Don Muraco, Nikolai Volkoff, Jim Duggan, Ron Bass, B. Brian Blair, Hillbilly Jim, Dino Bravo, The Ultimate Warrior, One Man Gang, Junkyard Dog) |
| Last Rumble Appearances | 11 (Butch Reed, Harley Race, Jim Brunzell, Sam Houston, Danny Davis, Boris Zhukov, Don Muraco, B. Brian Blair, Hillbilly Jim, One Man Gang, Junkyard Dog) |
| Average Time in match | 11:11 |
| Number of individuals with at least one elimination | 55% |
Did You Know?
- This is the only Royal Rumble to take place in Canada.
- This is the only broadcasted Royal Rumble that has had 20 wrestlers. As such, it’s the shortest recognised Royal Rumble.
- This is one of two Royal Rumbles that had no former World champions in it. The next one was 1998.
- This Royal Rumble match didn’t main event the show. Instead a two out of three falls match between The Islanders and The Young Stallions headlined the event.
- This was the only Royal Rumble that took place on broadcast television, with later events taking place on Pay Per View or the WWE Network.
Watch Royal Rumble 1988
You can watch Royal Rumble 1988 on YouTube for free. Watch it below.
Results
| Number of Entrant | Wrestler Name | Time of Entry | Time of Elimination | Time in Match | Finishing Position | Eliminations | Eliminated By | Other Facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bret Hart | 00:00 | 25:45 | 25:45 | 13 | 1 | Don Muraco | Bret set the record for the longest time & cumulative time with this entry. |
| 2 | Tito Santana | 00:00 | 10:43 | 10:43 | 19 | 0 | Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart | The first recognised champion to enter the Royal Rumble, as he was a tag team champion at the time of the match. Rick Martel didn’t enter the match (as he was injured at the time). |
| 3 | Butch Reed | 02:07 | 05:24 | 03:17 | 20 | 0 | Jake Roberts | The first person ever eliminated from a Royal Rumble. |
| 4 | Jim Neidhart | 03:49 | 22:54 | 19:05 | 15 | 1 | Hillbilly Jim | |
| 5 | Jake Roberts | 05:20 | 27:13 | 21:53 | 11 | 2 | One Man Gang | |
| 6 | Harley Race | 06:52 | 16:55 | 10:03 | 17 | 0 | Don Muraco | |
| 7 | Jim Brunzell | 08:17 | 20:23 | 12:06 | 16 | 1 | Nikolai Volkoff | |
| 8 | Sam Houston | 09:44 | 24:23 | 14:39 | 14 | 0 | Ron Bass | |
| 9 | Danny Davis | 11:19 | 29:10 | 17:51 | 8 | 0 | Jim Duggan | |
| 10 | Boris Zhukov | 12:47 | 15:20 | 02:33 | 18 | 0 | Jake Roberts, Jim Brunzell | |
| 11 | Don Muraco | 14:55 | 31:12 | 16:17 | 4 | 3 | Dino Bravo, One Man Gang | Don Muraco came down and was followed by Nikolai Volkoff. As Nikolai wasn’t a valid entrant into the match at the point, the time is taken from when he entered the ring. |
| 12 | Nikolai Volkoff | 16:42 | 28:22 | 11:40 | 10 | 1 | Jim Duggan | Nikolai Volkoff came down with Don Muraco and attacked him, although was made to wait 2 minutes to join the match. |
| 13 | Jim Duggan | 18:40 | 33:24 | 14:44 | 1 | 3 | Winner | |
| 14 | Ron Bass | 19:46 | 30:00 | 10:14 | 5 | 2 | Don Muraco | |
| 15 | B. Brian Blair | 21:10 | 27:00 | 05:50 | 12 | 0 | One Man Gang | |
| 16 | Hillbilly Jim | 22:40 | 28:35 | 05:55 | 9 | 1 | One Man Gang | |
| 17 | Dino Bravo | 24:09 | 32:22 | 08:13 | 3 | 2 | One Man Gang | |
| 18 | The Ultimate Warrior | 25:35 | 29:26 | 03:51 | 7 | 0 | Dino Bravo, One Man Gang | |
| 19 | One Man Gang | 26:32 | 33:23 | 06:51 | 2 | 6 | Jim Duggan | The One Man Gang set the record for the most eliminations & most cumulative eliminations with this entry. |
| 20 | Junkyard Dog | 27:39 | 29:48 | 02:09 | 6 | 0 | Ron Bass |
Graphs
Entrant Waterfall
Elimination Pie Chart
Time by Number
Eliminations by Number
Entrant Waterfall
Elimination Pie Chart
Time by Number
Eliminations by Number
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