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Royal Rumble 1988 - The First Ever Rumble.


If I correct this is a TV specail rather than PPV, so its packed fully of angles. Anyway Vince and Jesse Ventura are on commentary.

"Ravishing" Rick Rude vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
Rick scores with a flurry of punches to start but Ricky suddenly unloads with chops. Rick tries to toss Steamboat but Ricky skins the cat and Rude is tosses to the floor. Rude chalenges Ricky to a test of strenght but he starts ripping into a fan with a megaphone. We go to the test of strenght and Rude takes Ricky down to his kness to start, Steamboat kicks one arm out and spins into a Japanese arm drag and an arm bar, he then turns it into a lifting arm bar, Rick still in the hold drops Rude to his knees and nails a diving closeline the shoulder. Ricky then scores with a leapfrog and a japaneese arm drag and its back to the arm bar and Ricky now lays in the arm wrenches. Rude tries to slug his way out of the arm bar but Ricky just unloads with a couple of big chops, Rude then Irish whips Ricky but Steamboat kills him with a hard running chop. Ricky then scores with the Japanese arm drag and its back to the armbar. Ricky drops a knee on the injured arm, Rude comes back slugging down Steamboat and he follows up with a reverse elbow. Rude then introduces Steamboat into three of the ringposts. Steamboat slides under Rude twice and gets him again with the Japanese armdrag and arm bar and Rude has no answer. Ricky then lays in a series of knees into the shoulder and he now he drops some chops on the shoulder. Back up and Rude reverses an Irish whip into a another reverse elbow hurting his arm again but he poses to the crowd. Steamboat fires back with a variety of chops, Rude drops under Steamboat as he runs and Steamboat goes to fast and bounces off the ropes backwards an into a kitchen sink, odd spot but quite interesting. Rude then throws Steamboat back first into the ring apron and then body slams him on the outside. Rude then brings Ricky back in with a suplex for two with a cocky pin. Rude then locks in a camel clutch, Ricky tries to power up but Ricky slams him down jumping on his back, this happens a second time and Rude poses to the crowd before reapplying the hold. Ricky finnally fights out and powers up into an electric chair drop. Steamboat tries to capitalize with a splash but he eats knees. Rude hits a sloppy atomic drop, poses and then gets two. Rude reapplies the camel clutch but Steamboat flicks him off into the turnbuckles and then gives him ten head pounds in the corner. Steamboat then gets a snapmare and follows up with a diving chop for two. Ricky gets a headlock takedown, Rude headstands out and rolls over for the pin, Ricky bridges up into a backslide for two, they then do a pin counter sequences with lots of nearfalls. Rude scores with a nice closeline for two. Ricky blocks Rudes suplex and scores with a nice suplex of his own. Ricky comes off top with a flying crossbody but Rude throws Earl Hebner in harms way. Rude puts Ricky into the over the shoulder torture rack and the ref recovers and calls for the bell and he awards to match to Steamboat by DQ.
Well on its way to being a very good match, but it felt like it was missing the final ten or five minutes the match need to really kick into top gear. Stopped just as it was really getting going but a fine effort, looked as though it was designed to build to Saturday Nights Main Event. Good Teaser. (**1/2)
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We then go to Dino Bravo's world record bench press attempt. I can't tell you how awful this is, it goes on for ages, the crowd hate it, he does a ridiculous amount of weights before going for the record. In the end Ventura cheats to help him do it. Its so lame, and so so long, I mean twenty minutes of weight lifting, on a wrestling show.
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WWE Woman's Tag Team Title
Two Out Of Three Falls Match
The Glamour Girls w/ Jimmy Hart vs. The Jumping Bomb Angels
No jokes there following that abortion with this! I'm mean this could be alright but we deserve a fucking world title fight after that monstrousity.
They exchange roll ups to start. One of the Angels gets a rolling headbutt followed by a stalling side suplex. Great I don't know the names of the Bomb Angels and neither does McMahon so I'll call them what Vince is calling them. Pink hits a body attack on Jully. Red Angel gets a running chop and a running crossbody. Red then locks in an octopus strech. Jully breaks it up, but the Angels put them both in figure four leglocks. Red then gets an interesting tak on the wishbone splitter, the crowd seem to like it so she does it twice. Pink in now and she has a death lock on Lellani Kai, finally I know who some on is. Red angel in with a deathlock, Jully tries to make the save but can't. Some good rule inforcement as you can't tag with your feet not on the matt so the hold continues. Kai then pulls Red off top hard. Judy then scores with a falling backwards powerbomb for the win. Glamour Girls win fall one.
Judy then gets a flying chop but Red bridges out of the pin and dodges a splash. Pink in with a diving closeline, then a second rope closeline for two, then a crossbody for two. The Angels then get a double suplex. The Glamour Girls miss there closelines and hit each other. We then get an awkward collison, and a botched roll up from Red gets the win. I don't think Judy knew what was coming. Jumping Bomb Angels Win fall two.
The Bomb Angels get a double high knee for two. Red then gets an awkward knee. Kai kicks her really hard in response. Red gets a enzenguri on Judy. Pink goes for a fisherman suplexes but Martin blocks it and kicks her down hard. Pink gets a leapfrog and a backslide for one. Martin scores with a really cartoony catapult. The Glamour Girls get a snapmare neck whip combo on pink. Kai then lays in the headbutts and then scores with a double arm suplex for two. Red gets a tag but she's met with a hair drag take down. Judy chokes Red behind the refs back. The Glamour Girls double hard Irish whip into the corner. Red blocks a axe handle, dodges two closelines and dumps Kai on her arse twice in a row. Pink in, Red gets a body drop and Pink scores with a flying knee off top. Pink scores with a body slam for two, a double arm suplex with a bridge gets two. Red in and she gets a crossbody for two, body slam and Red goes up top but misses with the flying senton but Judy only gets two. Pink in and she comes off the second rope with a flying closeline for two. Both Angels go up top and a the Angels score with a Double Torpedo Dropkick, great sell from Martin. Pink dropkicks Kai and Red gets the pin on Martin.
Well what a suprise, first that they gave it so long, and two that it was that good, there were lots of fuck ups, and awkard moments but it was fast paced and alot of fun and there were some really nice moves in there, and the finish was pretty impressive. It nearlly made up for the previous disgrace of an angle. Good Stuff. (**1/4)
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Ventura and Vince then recap the Hogan-Andre situation and we get some video packages. Its now time for the contract signing. Hogan, Andre, Dibiase, Virgil and Tunney all come out. Andre won't sit down to start, he slowly strolls over to his chair and sits down and mocks Hogan by squeezing his hands. Hogan's about to sign when Ted starts shouting "Sign it, Sign it", he asks why Hogan looks so nervous, if his pride and integrity means more than money why doesn't he sign it, Ted say he knows its a career ending contract, however when Ted says Andre beat him in three minutes a Wrestlemania III he signs it immediately. Ted says Hogan is history. Andre slowly reads through the contract, and discusses it with Ted. Hogan isn't happy but Ted gets on the mike and says he can take as much time as he wants. Vince is ranting and raving on commentary. Andre eventually signs. Ted tells Andre to put his stamp of approval on it. He slams Hogans head into the table and then shoves the table over ontop of Hogan. Ted tells the fans to take a good hard look at Hogan because that's what we're gonna see January fifth. Solid segment.
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The Royal Rumble
Bret Hart is entrant Number One. Tito Santana is Number Two. Bret fires away on Tito to start and stomps him down in the corner. Tito comes back introducing Bret's heard to the turnbuckle. Bret gets a leap frog but turns around into a big right hand. Bret comes back with a nice inverted atomic drop. Bret comes off the second rope with a flying elbow drop. Bret tires to toss Santanta. Entrant Number Three is Butch Reed. Reed goes straight to work on Santana and attempts to toss Tito. Santana comes back and gives the heels a noggin knocker. Bret comes back slugging down Tito, Reed comes off the second rope with the flying axe handle. Hart and Reed then score with a double back elbow. Entrant Number Four is Jim Neidhart. Santanta nearly tosses Bret but he hangs on, the heels then score with the back breaker flying elbow combo on Tito. The heels the all high five. Jim and Reed score with a double gut punch on Tito and they all try to toss Tito. Entrant Five is Jake Roberts. Jake comes in and tosses Reed. Butch Reed Is Eliminated. The crowd are going nuts, Jake whips the Heart Foundation into each other, Tito and Jake then whip the Heart Foundation into each other again. Jake is about to score with the DDT on Break but Jim dives in and breaks it up. Bret scores with a nice pildriver on Tito. Entrant Number Six Is Harley Race. There's lots of Royal Rumble toss attempts all round. Race floors Jake with a headbutt then follows up with a diving headbutt. Entrant Number Seven is Jim Brunzel. He blantantly feel over on the entrance, he gives the Heart Foundation a Noggin Knocker and then nearly eliminates Bret. Jake and Jim trade headbutts. Tito gets a ten punch in the corner ands Brunzel tries to lift Race out. Bret scores with a bakc breaker. Entrant Number Eight Is Sam Housten. He cleans house, he unloads on all the heels. Jake scores with some shoulderblocks in the corner on Jim. Tito is dropping a series of knee drops on Bret in the corner. The Heart Foundation then toss Tito hard. Tito Santana is Eliminated. Entrant Number Nine is Danny Davis. Housten and Davis trade slugs. Race gets stuck between the middle and top rope and bounces back and forth as Jake punches him. Davis scores with a suplex on Housten. Entrant Number Ten is Boris Zhukov. Its getting pretty cluttered in there. The Heart Foundation double team Brunzel. Brunzel scores with a european uppercut. Bret scores with an axe handle off the second rope on Brunzel, he whips Brunzel and then scores with a kick to the gut. Davis scores with a standing dropkick. Entrant Number Eleven is Don Murraco. Volkoff run out with him and they brawled before Don enter. Two men Eliminate Boris Zhukov. Murroco starts cleaning house. There's brawling all over. Entrant Number Twelve is Nickolai Volkoff. Brunzel is nearly eliminated but then Don Eliminates Harley Race. There's Royal rumble action all over, its weird because its the first ever the crowd really buy into all the attmepts. Its seriously too clutter right now. Entrant Number Thirteen is Jim Duggan. Duggan and Race brawl on the outside before Duggan enters the ring. Jim obviously gets the crowd going and starts throwing bombs all round. Duggan gets the ten punch on Neidhart in the corner and he's sure is shouting Ho! alot. Entrant Number Fourteen is The Outlaw. There's brawling everywhere, Duggan gets some shoulderblocks in the corner. Volkoff lifts Brunzel over his shoulder and Jim Brunzel is Eliminated. Don Murraco takes the Shawn Micheals corner bump. Entrant Number Fifteen is Brian Blair. Duggan scores with a brutal closeline on Davis, Jake gets a Second rope axe handle on Davis and the crowd continue to call for the DDT. Danny Davis is holding on like his life depended on it. Entrant Number Sixteen Is Hillbilly Jim. He back body drops Neidhart over the top rope. Jim Niedhart is Eliminated. Jim then does something weird to Davis in the corner. Duggan floors Hart and theres brawling everywhere, its very crowded. Entrant Number Seventeen Is Dino Bravo. Housten is on the Outlaws shoulders monkey boxing but he gets dumped. Sam Housten is Eliminated. Entrant Number Eighteen is The Ultimate Warrior. Don Murraco tosses Bret. Bret Hart is Eliminated. Its lots of rumble stuff all round. Entrant Number Nineteen is The One Man Gang. OMG starts by clubing Jake but Warrior jumps on his back. Brian Blair is Eliminated out of nowhere. OMG then tosses Jake. Jake the Snake is Eliminated. Entrant Number Twenty is The Junk Yard Dog. Duggan lays some shoulders in on Volkoff. Duggan back body drops Volkoff out of the match. Volkoff is Eliminated. OMG back body drops Hill Billy Jim out. Hill Billy Jim is Eliminated. Duggan knocks Davis over the top rope with the 3 Point Stance. Danny Davis is Eliminated. Ultimate Warrior is Eliminated. JYD is dumped from behind. JYD is Eliminated. Murraco tosses Bass. The Outlaw is elminated. Gang gives Don arse thumps in the corner. OMG scores with an avalance in the corner. Don rolls out of danger and unloads with dropkicks on everyone including Frenchie Martin on the apron. OMG charges and knocks Don over the top rope with a closeline. Don Murraco is Eliminated. Duggan dives in on both Bravo and Gang. The heels score with a cartoony double closeline. Bravo scores with a double closelne. Bravo holds Duggan for a closeline but OMG misses and Elimates Dino Bravo. Duggan unloads with a flurry on OMG, but Gang soon regains control and chokes him on the top rope and then slugs down Duggan. OMG has Duggan groggy and he charges but Duggan gets the lowbridge and One Man Gang is Eliminated and Jim Duggan is the First Royal Rumble Winner.
Fun spectacle match, the crowd really added something to that match by being so into all the near eliminations that are now regular rumble fodder. There was some good action in there, and some good motion created especailly at the beginning of the match. Duggan played his role very well got the crowd going and did a good job of the Babyface super comeback. OMG was sloppy but did a good job of being the first monster heel and was a good foil for Duggan. It was generally pretty fun and given the historic value a very fun watch. (***)
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Hogan then cuts a decent promo saying nothing can stop him and nothing can scare him.
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Two Out Of Three Falls Match
The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions
Wow I better your super pumped for this main event, nothing says main event like the greatest horseman of all time PAUL ROMA!!! Powers leapfrogs Coma to start and unloads with a flurry of punches and Coma bails. Coma drops to his knees and offers a handshake, the crowd don't like it, Powers sees him coming blocks his kick and gives him an atomic drop. McMahon on commentary called the weightlifting mind numbing and boring. Haku is in and he scores with a shoulderblock and then after a couple of leapfrog he counters a hiptoss into a Japanese arm drag. Powers then scores with a crossbody for two. The Stallions get a double gut punch for two. Toma in, whoops been getting his name wrong, it doesn't matter Haku is back in straight away and he scores with a nice back elbow for two. Toma in with a high leaping chop off the top rope. Haku comes back in and the Islanders score with a double headbutt. Haku goes for a blind charge but he eats and knee. They go to the double closeline collision spot. HOT TAG Roma comes in and unloads on Toma he scores with a diving closeline. He follows up with a nice dropkick, he follows that up with a back body drop. We then get a botched dropkick spot. Haku then lowbridges Roma to stop his momentum and sends him to the outside and Rom says his leg is injured, he's doing a monster sell job and the Islanders win the first fall by count out. The Islanders win the First Fall.
Errh....well if that's the end, that's pretty lame, was average till the end. (1/2*).
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We come back from commercail and the Stallions are back in the dressing room injured and Vince says hopefully they'll be back out later, well I guess that's it.
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We then get a Dibiase promo, he's pretty good, Andre isn't so hot saying he's still undefeated and that's not gonna change. He will destroy Hulkamania, comedy moment as he punches Mooney in the gut and then continues his rant promise Ted the belt. Pretty funny.
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The Second and Third Fall of a Three Fall Match
The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions
Toma goes straight for the injured leg and takes Roma down he then gives Roma a body slam and follows it with a big splash on the legs. Powers manages to get a tag in and he explodes scoring with a back body drop, a few head pounds in the corner and a closeline for two. Powers scores with a dropkick for two, he follows up with a nice suplex for two. Powers gets a back suplex for two before a killer gut punch stops Powers in his tracks. Haku and Toma trade tags and score with a double headbutt. Powers gets a small package out of nowhere for two. Haku scores with a backbeaker for two. Toma in and he scores with a nice spinning reverse elbow and he follows up with a hip toss takedown. Haku in and he scores with a standing dropkick for two. Haku scores with a nice side suplex for two. Haku then applies the abdominal stretch and the crowd are really coming to life. Powers counters with a hip toss but can't make the tag. Body slam but Haku misses the front flip leg drop and both men are crawling but Haku stops the tag. Powers kicks Haku and then falls over in a wierd spot. Haku scores with a hard chop. They then do a odd heel kick spot, it think it missed and Powers even though he kinda sells makes the tag. Roma in but they just legsweep him, Toma comes off top with a big splash on Roma's leg. Haku locks him into the half boston crab for the win.
Well fine match, told a decent story and the finish made total sense, forcing Powers to tag in Roma and then killing him quickly going after the leg. Nice consistant selling. Add on the 1/2* from the first part but I'll give this restarted portion. (*3/4)
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Vince and Ventura recap the event in the empty arena.
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Final Thoughts: Well if you can ignore what was a total abortion of a segment in the weight lifting, words can't describe how awful that was it was twenty minutes long. If that hadn't been on the show it'd of clocked in at two hours. An been a hell of an entertaining two hours. The opening Rumble was good fun and you can easily see why it caught on. All the tag matches were solid good TV matches and the opener was very solid, you feel if they weren't going to a non finish they really could have pushed into fifth gear and stole the show, but that was cleary the rumble's job. So yeah i recommend you watch the rumble for history reason but I can't recommend you sit through the whole show because the weight lifting will put you to sleep. It's not funny bad, its just bad. So Watch the show but with your remote at the ready.

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This is your one stop shop of pop culture reviews I most specialize in Music, Politics & Film. I occasionally delve into TV reviews. I've got a Politics MA and a War Studies BA, I'm taking a year out before starting a Phd so when it comes to History and Politics I'm pretty well versed but I tend to keep this blog fun rather than serious.

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