1988 Royal Rumble Thoughts

   We're just about a month out from the 2018 edition of the Royal Rumble.  This upcoming event is special as there will also be a women's Royal Rumble match as well.  With about 30 days to spare and 30 years of Rumbles gone by, I though I'd share my thoughts about each event leading up to the 31st Royal Rumble.  It's hard to believe we've been through 30 of them!  1988 was the very fist Royal Rumble and this particular Rumble match had only 20 competitors, before reaching an official 30 the following year.  I'll spare you the rules since you are probably aware.

   This was just about a month before the infamous Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant rematch that saw Andre winning thanks to a double-crossing ref and the Million Dollar Man's money.  Andre proceeded to hand over the Title to Ted DiBiase, only for the Title to be vacated and decided at WrestleMania that year.  The Royal Rumble match was Pat Patterson's brainchild and he didn't know how big and important it would one day be.  The very first Royal Rumble event was on cable television and didn't become a Pay-Per-View until the next year.  

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs Ravishing Rick Rude

   The fans were in for a treat with this match.  Steamboat's technical ability and high flying maneuvers were always exciting.  No one could do an arm drag like Steamboat!  Rude was starting to gain momentum and it helped having Bobby "The Brain" Heenan by his side.  It was a fantastic opener for the show.  Somehow, these two men topped this performance a few years later in WCW in a series of matches for the United States Championship.  Rude pulled out some classic heel antics, including pulling the referee in front of him when Steamboat jumped from the top rope.  I generally don't like when matches at big events end in anything but a pin or submission.  The match ended in Steamboat's favor by disqualification but I really think it should have been a dirty victory for Rude. That way, Rude continues to rise up and Steamboat doesn't lose credibility.  The match was great but ruined by the ending.

Women's Tag Team Titles - Glamour Girls vs. Jumping Bomb Angels

   This was by far the match of the night.  After their impressive showing two months earlier at the Survivor Series, young sensations the Jumping Bomb Angels had earned a Title shot.  The Glamour Girls consisted of veterans Judy Martin and Leilani Kai, who competed in the first WrestleMania. The ladies of course had Jimmy Hart by their side.  This match was also two out of three falls.  It was a great mix of classic wrestlers in the Glamour Girls against the high-flying antics of the Jumping Bomb Angels.  After an incredible double drop kick, the Angels scored the victory and became the new Women's Tag Team Champions.

Royal Rumble Match

    Even though this was not on PPV yet, I still find it odd that the Rumble match didn't close the show, especially because the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant contract signing took place in the middle of the card and the WWF Title wasn't on the line.  There wasn't a better choice of two men to start this match than Bret "Hit Man" Hart and Tito Santana.  Bret was the iron man of this match, lasting over 25 minutes.  Due to his size, the One Man Gang was a favorite to win.  While Gang eliminated 6 men by himself, he did not win the match.  In the end, he was outsmarted by Duggan when he ran at him, only for Duggan to pull the ropes down, sending the big man out to the floor.  Hacksaw won the first Royal Rumble. Since this was the first, the stipulation of the winner getting a WrestleMania Title shot did not exist yet.

Islanders vs. Young Stallions

   For some reason, this was the last match.  It was a great contest between two lower-tier, yet incredibly gifted teams.  Haku and Tama were a great team, but Haku got a decent push as a singles competitor and ended up winning the Tag Team Titles eventually with Andre the Giant.  The Stallions were two good-looking young men consisting of Jim Powers and Paul Roma.  They were the young-high flying team until the Rockers came along.  This match was also two out of three falls.  The Islanders, without even needing the help of manager Bobby Heenan, took this in two straight falls.  

   It's hard to give this card a rating because it was the first one and it wasn't on PPY yet. Steamboat/Rude was good and by far the match of the night was the Glamour Girls/Jumping Bomb Angels match.  The fans were happy when a favorite in Duggan won, the One Man Gang looked good, and Bret Hart lasted a long time.  Some glaring omissions from this event were the British Bulldogs, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, the Million Dollar Man, and Bam Bam Bigelow, who looked incredible after his showing at the Survivor Series.   All in all, not too shabby for a first outing.  Little did they know, it was about to get really good.

If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments.  Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans.  Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport.  For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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