King of the Ring (1988)

King of the Ring (1988) was the fourth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling tournament produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The tournament was held on October 16, 1988 at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

King of the Ring (1988)
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	October 16, 1988
City	Providence, Rhode Island
Venue	Providence Civic Center
Attendance	6,700[1]
King of the Ring tournament chronology
← Previous 1987 Next → 1989

In addition to the tournament, there was only one other match during the night. In this match Jim Duggan defeated Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin) in a flag match. Duggan pinned Bravo when Martin accidentally hit Bravo with the flag.

Storylines

The matches 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 World Wrestling Federation's writers.[2]

Results

No.	Results[1][3]	Stipulations	Times[1][4]
1	Ken Patera defeated Nikolai Volkoff	King of the Ring tournament first round match	10:20
2	Ted DiBiase defeated Brutus Beefcake	King of the Ring tournament first round match	7:32
3	Ron Bass defeated The Barbarian by disqualification	King of the Ring tournament first round match	7:02
4	Shawn Michaels defeated Dangerous Danny Davis	King of the Ring tournament first round match	3:37
5	Bad News Brown and Hercules wrestled until a double countout	King of the Ring tournament first round match	6:05
6	Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Virgil	King of the Ring tournament first round match	5:43
7	The Red Rooster defeated Marty Jannetty	King of the Ring tournament first round match	11:00
8	Mike Sharpe defeated Boris Zhukov	King of the Ring tournament first round match	6:27
9	Jim Duggan defeated Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin)	Flag match	8:43
10	Ted DiBiase defeated Ken Patera	King of the Ring tournament quarter-final match	5:42
11	Ron Bass defeated Shawn Michaels	King of the Ring tournament quarter-final match	7:39
12	The Red Rooster defeated Mike Sharpe	King of the Ring tournament quarter-final match	3:27
13	Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated The Red Rooster	King of the Ring tournament semi-final match	7:21
14	Ted DiBiase defeated Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) by count-out	King of the Ring tournament final match	6:11
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Tournament bracket

First Round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Ken Patera

Pin

Nikolai Volkoff

10:20

Ken Patera

Pin

Ted DiBiase

5:42

Brutus Beefcake

Pin

Ted DiBiase

7:32

Ted DiBiase

Forfeit

Ron Bass

^2

The Barbarian

DQ

Ron Bass

7:02

Ron Bass

Pin

Shawn Michaels

7:39

Dangerous Danny Davis

Pin

Shawn Michaels

3:37

Ted DiBiase

CO

^3

Randy Savage

6:11

Bad News Brown

DCO

Hercules

6:05

BYE

Randy Savage

Randy Savage

Pin

Virgil

5:43

Randy Savage

Pin

The Red Rooster

7:21

Marty Jannetty

Pin

The Red Rooster

11:00

The Red Rooster

Sub

Iron Mike Sharpe

3:27

Mike Sharpe^1

Pin

Boris Zhukov

6:27

1. ^ Mike Sharpe substituted for The Warlord.
2. ^ DiBiase paid Bass off to fake an injury.[5]
3. ^ Randy Savage was counted out when he became distracted by Virgil on the outside of the ring.

References

1. WWF King Of The Ring 1988
2. Grabianowski, Ed (2006-01-13). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
3. "King of the Ring 88 - Providence, RI - Civic Center - October 16, 1988 (6,700)". The History of WWE. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
4. "WWF King of the Ring '88 at Providence Civic Center wrestling results - Internet Wrestling Database". www.profightdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
5. Ted DiBiase: The Million Dollar Man, p.162, Ted DiBiase with Tom Caiazzo, Pocket Books, New York, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4165-5890-3