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.

The idea for the Royal Rumble match was constructed by wrestler Pat Patterson. The rules were that each wrestler had to draw a number between 1 and 20, ostensibly at random. The #1 and #2 entrants would begin the match while the other participants would join the match every two minutes thereafter. Like a standard battle royal, participants had to eliminate their opponents by tossing them over the top rope with both feet touching the floor. The winner would be the last wrestler remaining after all others had been eliminated.

The first experimental Royal Rumble match happened at a World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) house show on October 4, 1987, at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri. It was a 12-man match that One Man Gang won after last eliminating Junkyard Dog. Possibly because the event was not televised and a financial failure (drawing only 1,976 attendees), this event is not acknowledged by the promotion. According to Patterson, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon hated the concept from the start. Patterson was not at the 1987 show to guide the producers and the wrestlers. He said they had gotten the match concept mixed up. The original prize was a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Hulk Hogan at the next St. Louis event scheduled for November 17, 1987; however, the ring announcer spoiled the Rumble result by announcing beforehand that One Man Gang would be Hogan's challenger at that following event.

The WWF then had a live television special scheduled to air on the USA Network on January 24, 1988, emanating from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Saturday Night Live's executive producer Dick Ebersol, who worked with McMahon on the Saturday Night's Main Event shows, was in charge of producing the special. Ebersol was unsatisfied with the event's planned card, and McMahon suggested Patterson to tell Ebersol about his Royal Rumble concept, which Ebersol thought was the "greatest thing for television". Patterson said that Ebersol saw the potential of the match, and Ebersol came up with the idea to add a countdown clock on the TV to build anticipation for the next entrant. Ebersol's endorsement was enough to convince McMahon to have the match as the centerpiece of the special, and the special was in turn titled after the match. The number of participants for the match was also increased to 20, but with no prize attached to the match.

The event comprised four matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television shows, Superstars, Wrestling Challenge, and Prime Time Wrestling.

The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki) feuded with The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai & Judy Martin) over the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. Kai & Martin were awarded the titles in August 1985 in Egypt. Kai & Martin feuded with many tag teams and held onto the titles for over two and a half years. In November 1987, they began calling themselves "The Glamour Girls". At Survivor Series 1987, The Glamour Girls were part of WWF Women's Champion Sensational Sherri's team in a Survivor Series match against Fabulous Moolah's team. The Jumping Bomb Angels, part of Moolah's team pinned the champions to become the survivors for the match. After pinning the champions, The Jumping Bomb Angels signed a contract for the Royal Rumble challenging The Glamour Girls for the titles.

The first match was between Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat. At the conclusion of the match, Steamboat attempted a diving crossbody, but Rude pulled referee Dave Hebner in front of him to avoid any contact unto himself. Rude placed Steamboat in a Canadian backbreaker rack, but Hebner signaled for the bell. Rude reacted as if Hebner was awarding him the match via a submission, but in fact, Hebner instead awarded the bout to Steamboat via a disqualification.