The 1988 Royal Rumble was the inaugural Royal Rumble professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 24, 1988, at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The event aired live as a television special on the USA Network on the same night as Jim Crockett Promotions' Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view (PPV) and was centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. It would be the only Royal Rumble event to broadcast as a television special, as beginning with the 1989 event, it began airing on pay-per-view. After the launch of the WWE Network in 2014, this inaugural Royal Rumble was included with the rest of the Royal Rumble events in the PPV section. It was the only Royal Rumble event to be held outside the United States until 2026 as subsequent events are held in the U.S. since.
Four matches were contested at the event. The main event was the first-ever televised Royal Rumble match, which was won by Jim Duggan by last eliminating One Man Gang. The final match was a two out of three falls match in which The Islanders (Haku and Tama) defeated The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers). Additionally, The 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 to win the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship and in the opening bout, Ricky Steamboat defeated Rick Rude by disqualification.