Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0651191945764
Format: Box set
Label: World Wrestling
Manufacturer: World Wrestling
MPN: WWED94576D
Number Of Items: 5
Publisher: World Wrestling
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-11-27
Running Time: 806
Studio: World Wrestling
Theatrical Release Date: 2007

Vol. 1 – It was a simple, yet revolutionary concept. Two men start in the ring, and every two minutes another Superstar is added to the match. Toss your opponents over the top rope to eliminate them until only one remains. It proved so popular that it was later moved to Pay Per View and the winner was awarded the WWE Championship. Now one of the WWE’s biggest events, you can own the first 5 Royal Rumbles on DVD in their entirety. Vol. 1 winners include back-to-back champ Hulk Hogan, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Big John Studd and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great collection of the best Royal Rumbles.
Comment: I've watched this, and I have to say that it is absolutely wonderful to watch. Seeing Hulk Hogan and Andre "The Giant" and their official signing was a nice entertaining segment, as well as seeing the Weightlifting segment. Both those segments were nice to see for me.

As for the matches themselves, they were nice to see, especially the Royal Rumble Matches, and the Two Out Of Three falls matches were awesome to see as well. I also love women Wrestlers. They make my day, whether it be the women Wrestlers of yesteryear, the TNA Knockouts, or the WWE Divas.

If you have all five of these Royal Rumble shows on Vhs, then don't bother with this. However, if you are getting started on your Pro Wrestling collection, then this set is the one to get. This set comes highly recommended. I can't wait to get volume two of this anthology next.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Origins Of A Wrestling Tradition
Comment: Since 1988, The Royal Rumble has been the second only to WrestleMania as the most important card on the WWE calender. Here is the beginning of that traditon:

Royal Rumble 1988

Ricky Steamboat Vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude (RIP) - A good opener but not the best of either man. Steamboat wins this one on a disqualification.

Leilani Kai/Judy Martin Vs. The Jumping Bomb Angels - Great women's tag team bout for its era! It was contested under 2 out of 3 falls for the now defunct WWF/WWE Women's Tag Team Titles with the JBA's taking the win!

The Royal Rumble Match - This one was only 20 men for this edition with Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Tito Santana starting the match. It was ultimately won by "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

The Young Stallions Vs. The Islanders - This tag contest was also 2 out of 3 falls with future Umaga along with Haku winning the match in two straight falls.

This one also features the late Dino Bravo's bid to break the world bench press record and the contract signing of then WWE Champion Hulk Hogan against the late Andre The Giant for a match in February 1988.

This one's a must see for historical reasons if nothing else.

Royal Rumble 1989

The number for this RR went up to 30 men and has remained that way ever since. It also had a decent undercard:

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation Vs. The Rogeuos Brothers & Dino Bravo (2 out of 3 Falls) - This was a good opener which ends when Duggan slugs Bravo from behind with his 2 X 4 during the 3rd fall.

"Ravishing" Rick Rude/The Ultimate Warrior engaged in a "Super" posedown. Personal opinion is that Warrior had the bigger and better body overall but Rude had him beat on abs! LOL! Anyway, it turns into a set up as Rude attacks him after the match which sets up their 6 month long feud.

Rockin' Robin Vs. Judy Martin (WWE Women's Title Match) - Can you say awful?! Judy Martin is another ladies legend in wrestling but Rockin' Robin makes some of the divas of today look like 5 star wrestlers! The best part of the match was at the beginning when "Sentational" Sherri Martel (RIP) challenged the winner of the bout. Anyway, Robin takes this one and retains her championship.

Harley Race Vs. Haku (Battle For The Crown) - This one was a slow but decent bout. I wouldn't call it five stars but it did feature one of the stiffest kicks I've ever seen when Haku kicked Race in the face! OUCH! How did Race get up from that afterwards?! I would've still been laying in the ring!

The Royal Rumble match this year featured the then WWE Tag Team Champions Demolition facing each other as numbers 1 and 2! From there, we get interesting action and the foreshadowing of The Megapowers (Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage) exploding in the coming months!

By the way, this one was won by the late Big John Studd!

Royal Rumble 1990

This one is probably one of my favorite Rumble's! Certainly it ties between this one and Rumble '92 on this volume!

The Rougeous Brothers Vs. The Bushwackers - Jacque and Raymond are on the losing end of this fun bout as the former Sheepherders take this one. Not a great tag bout but very fun!

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake Vs. Lanny "The Genius" Poffo - Not a great match but has some entertainment value. Ends in a double DQ and a bad haircut on Poffo but the late, great "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig gets revenge for him when he takes a steel chair to Beefcake's ribs!

Ron Garvin Vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - This was a submission style match where that was the only way to win! Surprisingly physical especially for this era of WWF/WWE as it was more family friendly than it is now. Garvin wins with his version of the Scorpion/Sharpshooter after nearly submitting earlier to Valentine's figure four leglock.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan Vs. The Big Bossman (RIP) - Just a straight fight with almost no wrestling whatsoever! Duggan wins this brawl by DQ when the Bossman decides to use his nightstick. Duggan gets even afterwards with his 2 X 4 to the back of the Bossman and then gives Slick a nice paddling with his trusty board!

The Royal Rumble match was action packed as it featured Ted DiBiase, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, a young Shawn Michaels, Rick Martel, Tito Santana, The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Randy Savage and many others! This one was won by Hogan but more significantly, it set up Hogan's match up with Warrior at WrestleMania VI.

Royal Rumble 1991

The Rockers VS. The Orient Express - Good tag bout to begin things. The Rockers take this one.

The Big Bossman Vs. The Barbarian - A brawling type bout much like his bout with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan a year before. This time, The Bossman takes the win over the stronger Barbarian.

The Ultimate Warrior Vs. Sgt. Slaughter(WWE Title Match) - While not the greatest match, it may have been one of the more emotional title matches ever due to the Iraqi angle and the real life war that was going on at the time in the Persian Gulf. Ends when "Macho King" Randy Savage cost UW the title with his sceptor upside the head, allowing Slaughter to take the win and the title.

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes Vs. Ted Dibiase/Virgil - Not a great bout. Only significant to see Virgil turn on Dibiase after the match.

The Rumble match for this one was okay. It was fun to hear the commentary of the late Gorilla Monsoon and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper though! Hulk Hogan takes this one after eliminating The Earthquake.

Royal Rumble 1992

The Orient Express Vs. The New Foundation - This was the team of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and the late great Owen Hart! They take this one with The Rocket Launcher a la The Midnight Express for the win!

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper Vs. The Mountie (WWE I-C Title Match) - This came on the heels of Bret "Hitman" Hart having to drop the title due to a legit illness he had at the time. Only two days into his title reign, The Mountie loses the belt to Piper who (until this point) had never held a title in the WWE! As for the match, it was pretty one-sided as Roddy didn't beat The Mountie.....HE WHIPPED THAT BOOTY THEN SENT HIM TO DREAMLAND WITH THE SLEEPERHOLD!

The Beverly Brothers Vs. The Bushwackers - More of a comedy thing with The Bushwackers' sidekick Jamison and The Beverly's manager "The Genius" Lanny Poffo than a real match. The Beverly's take this one but Jamison gets some revenge on "The Genius."

The Legion Of Doom Vs. The Natural Disasters (WWE World Tag Team Title Match) - The LOD carried much of this one as they made the late Earthquake and Typhoon look really formidable while still making themselves look good. TND wins by countout but LOD retains the titles in this one.

The Royal Rumble 1992 is special for two reasons: 1. It is the first and only time (to date) that the WWE title has been put up for grabs in this and 2. the now retired "Nature Boy" Ric Flair set a precident of an early draw winning this event (he went in at #3) by lasting an hour to win the title!

See Ric Flair face off with new enemies (at the time) such as the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith, a young Shawn Michaels, The Big Bossman, Tito Santana and The Undertaker. He also faces some old ones from his past such as Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Rick Martel, the late "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and many more! Of course, he faces off with Hulk Hogan in this and, to their credit, WWE left in the parts where Hulk was actually booed when he faced off with Sid (Vicious) Justice! They were originally edited out after the original PPV feed but now they've been put back!

While all the volumes I've seen have value, if I had to recommend one, it would be this one just for the nostalgic value alone!

Worth the $30 plus dollars!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Birth of a Great PPV
Comment: The Royal Rumble has always been my favorite PPV that the WWE (WWF) puts on. It's always been such a unique match and the PPVs generally have a solid under-card as well. What makes these early Royal Rumbles even better is the fact that with so many entries, you get to see pretty much every wrestler on the roster. So no matter who liked 20 years go in the WWf, chances are good he'll show-up some place on here.

1988 - The first Rumble, and (shockingly) this is a really good show. The infamous angle when Dino Bravo "set" the world bench-press record is here along with a Rick Rude/Ricky Steamboat less-than-classic (but still good), and a 2 out 3 fall women's tag title match. The Andre "The Giant"/Hulk Hogan contract signing comes off as something that you would see on Raw (not shocking since this Rumble was actually on USA, not PPV). The Rumble only features 20 wrestlers, but was very solid especially when you consider this had never been done before. The show ends with The Islanders taking on The Young Stallions in another 2 out 3 falls match. In sort of an awkward moment after the first fall, when they cut away from the match and have an interview with The Giant as The Islanders just stand in the ring in the background waiting for the match to continue.

1989 - The Rumble's first PPV appearance. The card starts out with a 6 man tag 2 out of 3 falls match (for those keeping track at home - this is the 4th regular match to appear on a Royal Rumble dating back to last year and 3 of the 4 have been tag team 2 out of 3 falls matches). This one features Hacksaw and The Hart Foundation taking on Bravo and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. Then we get the ultra-amazing "Super Pose Down" between Rude and the Ultimate Warrior (sure the Pose Down was insanely corny, but this type of thing totally summed up the WWE back then). A women's title match and a weird heal vs. heal showdown between Harley Race and Haku over the "king" title conclude the under card. The Rumble itself was great - the WWE clearly had a much better idea on how to pull this off and it showed. By the way, on all of these Rumbles we get the original interviews with the wrestlers - it's almost worth the price right there to see those.

1990 - Another solid Rumble. The best match on the under-card was a surprisingly decent "submission" match between Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin. There's also a Brother Love segment, Brutus "The Barber' Beefcake takes on The Genius, and Hacksaw/Big Boss Man match. The Royal Rumble itself was again good. The most notable moment is when Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior squared off briefly (setting the stage for Wrestlemania 6). Also, a very young (and very skinny) Tony Schiavone is the play-by-play man.

1991 - This is probably my favorite Royal Rumble on this set. Lots of exciting things happening - The Mountie debuts (I guess that's exciting), Virgil leaves DiBiase, Warrior loses the title to Sgt. Slaughter, and a great Rockers/Orient Express match. The wrestlers have the Rumble match down to a science at this point. The only drawback is Jesse "The Body" is no longer the color commentator and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan hasn't taken over yet, so we are stuck with Piper (who's ok, but not nearly as good as the other two).

1992 - This is one of the more famous Rumble matches due to the fact that the winner is named the WWE Champion. The Rumble match is exciting, but the other matches are just brutal. We have three tag matches (none of which are classics) and a short Intercontinental Title match pitting The Mountie (who, apparently, had just won the title two days before) against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Overall this set is a great buy - the price is cheap, and you get hours of memories and entertainment.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Memories
Comment: This set goes back to the infancy of the WWE. It has all of the early characters and shows how far the organization has progressed. Well worth the money for the nostalgia and the true fan base. A "must have" for the WWE historians. I highly recommend all 4 volumes.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Royal Rumble : The Complete Anthology Vol. 1
Comment: 1988- Glad this was here!!! It's the first Rumble that aired as a USA Network Special and it had that feel with Dino Bravo going for the benchpress mark, and Vince must've had been in love with 2 out of three falls matches as you get two here, one for the Women's Tag Titles between the Glamour Girls and The "Awesome" Jumping Bomb Angels, the other was a squash between The Islanders and Young Stallions. Event notable for The Hogan-Andre contract signing that led to the disputed title and the disaster that was Wrestlemania IV, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan winning the first 20 man Rumble.

1989- First Rumble on PPV, also the only one done by the Gorilla and The Body together. Includes a battle for the King of the World Wrestling Federation, a womens title match, and another two/three falls match. Look out for the intros from Vince in 89 and 90, it's really funny to listen as he tries to make The Warlord a series threat to win the event.

1990- My favorite of the volume, I still have All American Boys floating through my head from the Bushwhacker-Rouegau Brother match. Also Notable for the Submission Match between Garvin and Valintine, Perfect using a chair on Brutus the Barber (back when chair use wasn't in nearly every match), and The Hogan-Warrior Rumble Staredown.

1991- During the Gulf War, Sgt. Slaughter turns heel to fight The Ultimate Warrior, who was probably reeling from his attempted seduction by Scary Sherri, good Rockers vs. Orient Express opener, and The Rumble blew off The Hulkster-Quake fued. Watch out for Piper on commentary and keep the volume low.

1992- The WWE Title is on the line in The Royal Rumble also available on Flair's first WWE DVD, Roddy Piper wins the Intercontinental Title and zaps The Mountie, another Bushwacker comedy match vs. The Beverley Sisters and the Monsoon-Heenen Rumble Commentary is priceless.

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