Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

45. 1988

The first televised Royal Rumble is a curious but understandably tough watch today. WWE was still ironing out the kinks and finding out what worked and what didn't in the match, and the commentators clearly didn't address the elephant in the room: that nothing was actually on the line. That kinda stomps all over the 1988 Rumble's importance when looking back.

Jim Duggan shouldn't be dismissed as a naff winner (he was a star on the rise at the time), but it says everything for the '88 version that it's only 20 wrestlers deep but still trundles along for 33 minutes. That duration feels like 1 hour and 33 minutes when revisiting. Sorry, but it does. Again though, the company was experimenting here and would refine the formula within a couple of years.

The first Rumble is rather underwhelming overall.

Highlights include Bret Hart's workmanlike 25-minute performance and Duggan ousting One Man Gang for the victory. Lowlights include the general atmosphere - some fans seemed bored out of their skulls around ringside after the first flurry of excitement, and that wasn't a promising look for Pat Patterson's bold new match type.

Oh well, better brawls were ahead!

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 28th Jan 2025

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WWE Royal Rumble