Royal Rumble 1988 Royal Rumble 1988 was the first annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . It took place on January 24 , 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton , Ontario . Unlike the subsequent Royal Rumble events , this event was not shown on pay - per - view and was instead a television special shown on the USA Network . However on 2014 this event was presented as pay - per - view by WWE Network . The main event was a two out of three falls match where The Islanders ( Haku and Tama ) defeated The Young Stallions ( Paul Roma and Jim Powers ) . The undercard featured the first - ever Royal Rumble match which was won by Jim Duggan , Jumping Bomb Angels ( Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki ) defeated The Glamour Girls ( Judy Martin and Leilani Kai ) in a two out of three falls match for the WWF Women ' s Tag Team Championship and Ricky Steamboat defeated Rick Rude by disqualification . Development . Pat Patterson contrived the idea of the Royal Rumble Match . The rules were that each SuperStar had to choose a number between 1 and 20 . The # 1 and # 2 entrants would begin the match while the other participants would join the match every two minutes thereafter . Participants had to eliminate their opponents by tossing them over the top rope with both feet then touching the floor . The winner would be the last wrestler remaining after all others had been eliminated . It was similar to a battle royal . It was originally a television special shown on USA Network . Background . The Jumping Bomb Angels ( Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki ) feuded with The Glamour Girls ( Leilani Kai and Judy Martin ) over the WWF Women ' s Tag Team Championship . Kai and Martin were awarded the titles in August 1985 in Egypt . On television it was noted they had defeated Velvet McIntyre and Desiree Peterson . This claim was fictitious , however , as the match never occurred . Kai and Martin feuded with many tag teams and held onto the titles for over two and a half years . In November 1987 , they began calling themselves " The Glamour Girls " . At Survivor Series 1987 , The Glamour Girls were part of WWF Women ' s Champion Sensational Sherri ' s team in a Survivor Series Match against Fabulous Moolah ' s team . The Jumping Bomb Angels , part of Moolah ' s team defeated the champions to become the survivors for the match . After pinning the champions , The Jumping Bomb Angels signed a contract for the Royal Rumble challenging The Glamour Girls for the titles . Event . The first match was between Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat . At the conclusion of the match , Steamboat attempted a diving crossbody but Rude pulled referee Dave Hebner in front of him to avoid any contact unto himself . Rude placed Steamboat in a Canadian backbreaker rack but Hebner signaled for the bell . Rude reacted as if Hebner was awarding him the match via a submission , but in fact , Hebner instead , awarded the bout to Steamboat via a disqualification . Dino Bravo made a world record attempt to bench press 715 pounds . He was successful , but with help from spotter Jesse " The Body " Ventura . The second match was a women ' s tag team two out of three falls match for the WWF Women ' s Tag Team Championship , as the champions The Glamour Girls ( Judy Martin and Leilani Kai ) defended the titles against The Jumping Bomb Angels ( Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki ) . The challengers secured victory in the third and decisive fall after executing a double dropkick on Martin . André the Giant and Hulk Hogan signed a contract for a WrestleMania III rematch that took place on the February 5 , 1988 edition of " The Main Event " . Tied into this was that Ted DiBiase had previously purchased André ' s contract from Bobby Heenan and promised André , should he defeated Hogan for the WWF Championship and then " deliver it " to him , that he would reward André with a large sum of money . Next was the match the event was based on - the Royal Rumble match . Pat Patterson had invented this idea just weeks before . The first two wrestlers ever to enter a Royal Rumble match were Bret Hart of The Hart Foundation and one half of WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force , Tito Santana . Hart hit Santana in the corner . Santana fired back but Hart hit him an inverted atomic drop , followed by a middle rope axe handle elbow drop . Butch Reed entered at # 3 while Santana hit a flying forearm smash on Hart . Reed began nailing Santana until Santana dropkick ed both Hart and Reed . However , the two men got the better of Santana . Reed tried to hit Santana who sidestepped , and Hart was accidentally nailed until Hart ' s tag team partner Jim Neidhart entered at # 4 . He helped Reed and his tag team partner Hart in eliminating Santana . Santana held on to ropes until Jake Roberts entered at # 5 , making the save for Santana . He tossed Reed out of the ring and eliminated him which would be the first elimination of first - ever Royal Rumble match and the first elimination in the history of the Royal Rumble ever . He began pounding on Hart Foundation . Santana and Roberts tried to hit a Double DDT on Hart , but Neidhart attacked both men , saving his partner . Hart hit a jumping piledriver on Santana while Harley Race entered at # 6 . Neidhart and Race tried to eliminate Roberts while Santana nearly tossed Hart . Jim Brunzell entered at # 7 and almost eliminated Hart before Neidhart attacked Brunzell , saving Hart again . Sam Houston entered at # 8 and went after Hart Foundation . They tossed Santana out of the ring to even the score 3 - 3 . Danny Davis entered at # 9 and began attacking Houston . Race attacked Roberts through the ropes . Roberts tried to hit a DDT on Davis but Davis blocked it . Boris Zhukov entered at # 10 . Zhukov ' s The Bolsheviks tag team partner Nikolai Volkoff and Don Muraco were quarrelling over who was # 11 . The referees informed them that Muraco was # 11 and Volkoff was # 12 . Zhukov was eliminated by Roberts and Brunzell . Brunzell dropkick ed Hart but it had no great effect on Hart . Volkoff entered at # 12 as Muraco clotheslined Race . Jim Duggan entered at # 13 and received a nice reaction by the Canadian fans . All the wrestlers continued to beat each other until Ron Bass entered at # 14 . Volkoff prevented from Brunzell eliminating Davis . Brunzell pounded on Volkoff but was thrown out by Volkoff . B . Brian Blair entered at # 15 and Hillbilly Jim entered at # 16 . He eliminated Neidhart and Reed . Dino Bravo entered at # 17 . Bass had Houston on his shoulders and he threw Houston over the top rope , thus eliminating Houston in the process . The Ultimate Warrior entered at # 18 as Duggan eliminated Bret Hart . Though , Hart did not win the match , he set the first Royal Rumble longevity record for being eliminated at 25 : 42 . One Man Gang entered at # 19 and he eliminated Blair and then Roberts . The final participant entering at # 20 was Junkyard Dog . Duggan tossed Volkoff out of the ring while on the other side of the ring , OMG eliminated Hillbilly Jim and later Ultimate Warrior . Bass surprisingly attacked JYD and eliminated him from behind while Muraco surprisingly clotheslined Bass over the top rope as the final four left - Muraco , Duggan , Bravo and OMG . OMG nailed Duggan with a big splash in the corner and then OMG and Bravo began double - teaming on Muraco . Muraco managed to control both men until Frenchy Martin came out and distracted Muraco . Bravo and OMG were able to eliminate him . They went to do the same on Duggan . OMG attacked him but Duggan ducked and OMG accidentally eliminated Bravo . After a brawl with Duggan , he was eliminated by Duggan as Duggan won the first - ever Royal Rumble . A two out of three falls match between The Islanders ( Haku and Tama ) and The Young Stallions ( Paul Roma and Jim Powers ) would close the broadcast . The first fall concluded when Roma was tossed over the top rope by Tama - - - the ropes were low bridged by Haku - - - resulting in Roma injuring his knee . Roma was unable to return to the ring and got counted - out , giving the first fall to The Islanders . Powers worked much of the second fall , with Roma ailing on the ring apron , but eventually gave way to Roma after a taking a lengthy beating . Roma reluctantly tagged himself in but became an immediate victim to a Tama splash onto his injured knee . Haku then forced Roma to submit with a half crab to win the match in two straight falls . Results . Also Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations . One Man Gang had the most eliminations with 4 . He eliminated : B . Brian Blair , Jake Roberts , Hillbilly Jim and Dino Bravo .