Royal Rumble (1988)

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Royal Rumble 1988 was the third Royal Rumble event produced by World Wrestling Federation which took place on 10th January 1988

## Background

The main match heading into the show is the Royal Rumble Match, in which the winner will be getting a WWF Championship shot at Wrestlemania IV.

Ted Dibiase defeated Sting at Survivor Series 1987 to win the WWF Championship after the referee did a fast count, Sting returned a month later and got his rematch confirmed with Jack Tunney and to have no screwups, Sting could pick a special guest referee but he'd have to be unbiased with both men. Sting ended up choosing the most neutral guy on WWF, Barry Horowitz.

Bret Hart won the Intercontinental Championship from Ricky Steamboat at Summerslam 1986 and both men shook hands in respect of each other afterwards, 511 days later he's still champion, a lot has changed in these 511 days as Ricky Steamboat became WWF Champion, lost it and turned heel on the process becoming mainly a dick to anyone who was ever his friend, he won a Survivor Series Briefcase at Survivor Series 1987 which contained a Intercontinental Championship shot, Steamboat proclaims that Bret's win 2 years ago was a fluke and it should have never happened, they are currently 1-1 in singles competition because of a match they had during G1 1986(Superstars 63) Steamboat also cost Bret Hart the World Tag Team Championship with a distraction.

The World Tag Team Championships have changed hands a lot since Survivor Series 1987 when The Islanders defeated Snake's Pit, at Superstars 119 Hart Foundation won the titles and then at SNME December 1987 The Naturals defeated Hart Foundation, Demolition also became NO1 Contenders to the championships in the same show, The Naturals will now have to defend against Hart Foundation, The Islanders and Demolition in a fatal 4 way, something that has been teased is how will Bret be able to compete in 2 matches and win both.

Starting at Superstars 117, Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts started taunting Tito Santana due to his tag partner Rick Martel being absent even if he's already cleared, they tried to lure Tito into joining Snake's Pit but he just wouldn't give in, at SNME December 1987 after Jake Roberts defeated Tito, they once again tried to get him to join but Rick Martel returned now completely focused on his tag team with Tito as he gave up the 24/7 Championship, Tito didn't let him do this though and protected him, now both teams will face off to gain contendership to the World Tag Team titles.

After Rick Rude lost his WWF Championship match against Ted Dibiase at Superstars 121, he suddenly attacked Hulk Hogan on his own locker room the week after, Hogan challenged him to a match at the Rumble and these 2 have just been brawling since then.

## Details

* Honky Tonk Man held an open challenge which was answered by the debuting Bad News Brown
* Ricky Steamboat continued beating up Bret after their IC Championship match to ensure that he lost his next match
* Jack Tunney reveals that Ted Dibiase bribed the ref at Survivor Series 1987 so his WWF Championship win was a fluke, he can't vacate the championship in the middle of a reign though so he's making things hard for Dibiase as at Wrestlemania IV he will have to defend it in a 16 men tournament where he can get eliminated at any time, the WWF Champion and the Rumble Winner will be immediatly inserted into the quarter finals
* After Steamboat was eliminated, he picked up a mic, said that no one in this company could lace up his boots and quit WWF
* Bret Hart entered at number 27 completely exhausted and passed out at the stage not entering the match, when only 3 men remained, Bret Hart came out with a sudden outburst of energy and managed to win the match
* Final 4 of the Royal Rumble were Bret Hart, Andre The Giant, Tama and Junkyard Dog