-Kobe
-Today, we look at the first Royal Rumble from the WWF.
-The 1988 Royal Rumble was held on January 24, 1988 from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. It was broadcast on the USA network and set a record for the highest viewed wrestling program on cable TV at the time with an 8.1 rating.
-Vince McMahon welcomes us and runs down the night’s card. Then he and Jesse Ventura talk about the Royal Rumble.
-Mea Culpa: The Mandela Effect
-Rick Rude VS. Ricky Steamboat: This begins the tradition of Jesse always mentioning Rude winning the Jesse the Body award, so drink them if you’ve got them. Steamboat starts out hot but Rude is good too. Two great wrestlers here. Vince and Jesse talk about Rude’s physique. Chain wrestling, and Steamboat has the advantage. Rest holds galore and the crowd is not into it. Rude poses then takes over. Obnoxious fan in the front row has a megaphone. Jimmy Hart should sue for gimmick infringement. Steamboat is then thrown outside and punished. Rude poses again. More rest hold and this is not how you get a crowd into a show. Steamboat is put into a submission hold and he is tapping but we aren’t into that area yet and no one would know what tapping was. Steamboat powers out of it. More submission holds by Rude. Steamboat fights back. Multiple near falls. Steamboat goes up and Rude pulls the ref into him. Rude then applies a submission hold. The bell rings. Rude thinks he has won it. His music plays. He goes to leave and as he is doing so, they announce Steamboat the winner by disqualification.
-We come back to Mean Gene Okerlund and Jesse on the platform as Dino Bravo attempts to set a new world’s bench-press record. Bravo comes out with his new manager, Frenchie Martin. This is a bad segment all the way around as I like all the men involved but this went on too long and the crowd wasn’t into it. It was also pointless. Jesse helps Dino in the end to lift the bar to get to 715 pounds.
-WWF Ladies Tag Team Championship Match 2/3 falls: The Glamour Girls Leilani Kai and Judy Martin with Jimmy Hart VS. The Jumping Bomb Angels Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki: The Jumping Bomb Angels are impressive. Vince and Jesse argue about the weightlifting competition. The Glamour Girls strike first and fast. Vince doesn’t know the Jumping Bomb Angel’s names so he calls them by their singlet colors pink and red. SMH. Jesse and Vince get into a grammar battle over the use of the word ain’t. I’m team Jesse on this one. Back and forth on the first fall. The Glamour Girls cheat very well and they win the first fall.
-Second Fall: Vince starts to pronounce the Jumping Bomb Angel’s names so someone must have told him between falls. JBA’s get a quick pin after a sunset flip.
-Third Fall: JBA’s hitting hard to start. The Glamour Girls fight back. They go back and forth. Some near falls. Both JBA’s go to different turnbuckles, hit a double dropkick, get the pin, and we have new champions. Jesse complains that when the one Angel hooked the arm, Martin’s shoulder came up too, but it doesn’t go anywhere.
-Vince and Jesse flashback to WrestleMania III and the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant match controversy.
-The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase says he is going to buy the championship.
-Hulk Hogan says Hell No to DiBiase.
-DiBiase says everyone has a price.
-Flashback to Andre’s attack on Hogan on SNME.
-DiBiase recruits Andre to get the belt for him.
-Contract Signing: As they show the crowd right before this, there is a guy who has a kid in the backbreaker in the crowd. Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant who has Ted DiBiase and Virgil with him. Mean Gene Okerlund is in the ring to be the master of ceremonies. Andre, DiBiase, Virgil, and WWF figurehead president Jack Tunney are already in the ring. Hogan comes out to a huge pop. Jesse points out that Hogan comes out to Real American and we are in Canada. Mean Gene introduces the participants. Andre is hesitant to sit down. DiBiase jaw jacks to Hogan as he signs. After a lot of pausing, Andre finally signs. Then he gets up and slams the table on Hogan.
-Vince and Jesse go over the Royal Rumble and some of the participants.
-1988 Royal Rumble: 1. Bret Hart 2. Tito Santana It’s forearms and kicks time. Bret Hart is on the offensive. 3. Butch Reed Bret Hart Sells being hurt 4. Jim Neidhart. 5. Jake Roberts. Butch Reed gets eliminated. 6. Harley Race. 7. Jim Brunzell 8. Sam Houston. Tito Santana gets eliminated. 9. Danny Davis. 10 Boris Zhukov 11. Don Muraco and Nikolai Volkoff both come out but Muraco is the one that is allowed in. Boris Zhukov is thrown out and Nikolai has to wait to go in. 12. Volkoff is finally allowed in. Harley Race gets eliminated. 13. Jim Duggan fights with Harley Race on his way to the ring. 14. Ron Bass. Jim Brunzell is eliminated. 15. B. Brian Blair 16. Hillbilly Jim. Jim Neidhart eliminated. 17. Dino Bravo. Sam Houston eliminated. 18. The Ultimate Warrior making his big time debut. Bret Hart is finally eliminated. 19. One Man Gang. B. Brian Blair eliminated. Jake Roberts eliminated. 20. Junkyard Dog. Nikolai Volkoff eliminated. Hillbilly Jim is then gone. Danny Davis is the next to be thrown out. Warrior then eliminated. JYD is then eliminated. Ron Bass goes next. Muraco is throwing some dropkicks. OMG eliminates him. Dino Bravo and OMG double team Jim Duggan. OMG accidently eliminates Dino Bravo. OMG takes over. Tries to eliminate Duggan. OMG goes for a clothesline. Duggan drops down and pulls the top rope down and OMG falls out. Duggan wins.
-Vince and Jesse review the contract signing.
-Craig DeGeorge interviews Hulk Hogan. They talk about the Andre rematch coming up. Hogan says he can’t be beat.
-2/3 falls tag team match: The Islanders Haku and Tama VS. The Young Stallions Paul Roma and Jim Powers: Vince and Jesse talk about The Islanders kidnapping Matilda the Bulldog. They then talk about the Hogan/Andre Rematch coming up and basically anything but the match in the ring. It’s a back and forth affair. Jesse puts over Haku’s crescent kick. They finally concentrate on the match. Paul Roma falls outside over the ropes, hurts his knee, and gets counted out.
-They review the contract signing again.
-Craig DeGeorge talks to Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase with Virgil. The Million Dollar Man says what happened tonight won’t compare with what will happen February 5th. Andre says on February 5th, they will make history by eliminating Hulkamania.
-Second Fall: Roma comes out injured. He and Tama have to start. Haku and Jim Powers are tagged in. Haku takes over. Tama tagged in. Quick tags by The Islanders. Powers is just brutalized. Roma is tagged in but submits to a half crab.
-Vince and Jesse run down what has happened that night and close the show.