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.
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