Taking place Jan. 24, 1988, the first-ever Royal Rumble Match featured only 20 Superstars and was won by "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. ( WATCH) Little did anybody realize at the time that the match, which was broadcast on the USA Network rather than pay-per-view, would lay the groundwork for one of WWE's most enduring match formats.

But before ushering in the next installment of this mightily proud event, find out what the participants in the inaugural Royal Rumble Match had to say about the unique and groundbreaking innovation. In the pages that follow, Duggan, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Bret "Hit Man" Hart and other WWE Hall of Famers and Legends share their memories from that historic night.

Bret Hart

Bret Hart started the 1988 Royal Rumble with Tito Santana, and wrestled for 25 minutes before being eliminated by Don Muraco. Hart, already known to WWE brass as a stellar workhorse, was expected to keep fans engaged in the new stipulation with his solid in-ring skill.

On kicking things off …
“It was critical for guys like me and Tito [Santana] to get a lot of suspense and action going, and keep that action going until the others came out. And it’s not easy contesting a match like that. It really does exhaust you physically. And unluckily for me, I was in pretty good shape in those days, so I became the iron man for those bouts. The logic was, ‘Send Bret Hart out there and he’ll keep the action going until the next wrestler gets in there.’ That became a role I got stuck with two or three times. It was a compliment, but at the same time you had to do the work.”

On keeping the fire lit …
“I didn’t know who was coming out, either. And it became a challenge to keep the fire going. It’s like having a fire on a branch in the ring and you have to keep passing it around and keep it lit all the time. And you have to keep that fire going throughout the entire match. Sometimes you bounce from one opponent to the next trying to light that fire again. For me, I found that, as much action that was going on, I could spark something in the corner that would steal all the attention from everyone else and make people watch me. I had an ability to not exactly steal the show, but make people watch the flare-up I had going with somebody in the corner. Then I would move onto somebody else and kick-start something else on the other side of the ring.”

On why the Rumble is special …
“The beauty of the Rumble is that every couple of minutes, another guys comes out, and just seeing what kind of difference it makes. When you’re having a Royal Rumble, and all of a sudden they send out Bob Backlund, he’s a whole different type of wrestler than The 1-2-3 Kid or Andre the Giant. It changes the complexity of the entire match. Everyone knows that if Andre is walking up, everyone’s antenna is going to go up. It’s a whole different mentality.”

Tito Santana

Along with Bret Hart, Tito Santana was asked to begin the 1988 Royal Rumble. Much like the first WrestleMania, Santana handled his spot leading things off with aplomb, and went on to win 1989’s King Of The Ring the following year.

Why the Rumble works …
“For me, it was more exciting than your average Battle Royal. Everyone was anticipating who was going to come out next, and who was going to get the lucky draw at the end and be fresh. I never expected that people would get into it the way they did. But it did bring up a lot of psychology for the fans, because they were trying to figure out things.”

On veterans taking charge …
“When you’re a young guy in these matches, the first time you want to go in there and do a bunch of stuff, and it doesn’t take long for one of the veterans to make you realize whatever you do you have to be aware of your surroundings. You can’t just be thinking about yourself.”

On the match’s popularity …
“So many things that were started back then — the psychology just carried over with the fans. I personally think we had better psychology than the guys getting started. We got to wrestle and learn from guys who were teaching us every night. We were believers that you had to get the fans involved. I remember what Mr. Fuji said to me as I was really starting to understand the business. Fuji would say, ‘The people will tell you what they want; listen to the people.’ And I would think to myself, ‘What the hell is he talking about?’ But after a while, you get an ear for the crowd. They aren’t even aware you’re controlling them. That’s why they always talk about the legends, and the ‘good old days.’ ”

Hillbilly Jim

Entering the melee at No. 16, Hillbilly notched a short stint in the Rumble before One Man Gang ended his dreams of being the sole victor. He did manage to toss out Jim Neidhart during his six-minute stand, though.

On first hearing about the Royal Rumble …
“Just the name alone sounded good to me: ‘The Royal Rumble.’ I said, ‘Man, what a title! If this is any good at all, it’s going to take off!’ And lo and behold, after we did the first one, I knew it was going to keep on going. Of course, everything WWE was doing was pretty landmark stuff, innovative and groundbreaking, and everything was working in our direction and everything was in our favor. Wrestling was on fire. And the Royal Rumble, along with WrestleMania, was just a perfect fit, and all the boys on the show knew that it was something that was going to be going on every year after that.”

Memories of that day … 
“I remember the overall mood of the evening and the mood of the crowd. Everyone was just happy. And it was really just a special kind of thing. Everybody was just happy to be there. The crowd was really loud and into it. All the guys wanted to give their best performance. And that was the overall thing I took from that, I knew we were doing something really great.”

On Duggan winning it all …
“The Hack was one of the best of all time. What a character and a wonderful person! And we were all happy for Jim to win that night; it was great for him because he was a very likable guy in the locker room, and he was a tough, tough guy to boot.”

Looking back almost 25 years later …
“All of us guys who were around in those early days, we’re all proud to be part of those WWE firsts. We were there at a magical time in the wrestling business, when WWE took over, and there were some amazing innovations. For something like the Royal Rumble to be standing this many years later makes us all really proud.”

Harley Race

After coming into the Rumble at No.6, King Harley managed to battle it out inside the ring for slightly more than 10 minutes before being eliminated by Don Muraco.

Strategy for surviving the Rumble …
“There is no strategy. You get in there and try to stay around people who you know are not on your side, but up to a point are. They want to weed out the weaker part of the thing as quickly as possible, and as soon as you weed it out, the less likely you are to wind up with an injury from your blindside.”

His thoughts before the match …
“I was just thinking about how I was going to survive this thing and reduce the chance of injury and stuff like that. A lot of the younger ones that were there just for the sake of being there were all hyper and jumping around. You just find a way to keep yourself out of that part of it and hopefully you’re still there at the end.”

On advice he received from The Chairman …
“More or less, it was, get in there and go. They know talking to someone of my experience or people like me, there’s not a heck of a lot they can say to you one way or another to encourage you or discourage you.”

Jake Roberts

Roberts entered the Rumble at No. 5 and holds the distinction of being the first person ever to eliminate a Superstar from a Royal Rumble Match by tossing Butch Reed over the top rope. “The Snake” hung in there for more than 20 minutes before One Man Gang sent him packing.

On whether the Royal Rumble would ever succeed …
“I knew that it would work, because pumping people in, one after the other, just creates excitement. If you put a fresh guy in every minute or so, it becomes, ‘Here comes this guy; who is it? Who is it?’ It’s an anticipation thing, and the fans are hoping that the next guy to come out will help their guy to win it. It’s all about the fans. It was tough on the damn athletes, though. It really was.”

The challenges of being in the Rumble …
“Just the fact that there are so many men out there and that the ring’s only so big. Not only can you get hurt facing off with someone, but if someone falls into the back of your leg or the side of your knee, you’re still going to get messed up. The fact that there’s so many people in that small of a space makes it very dangerous. I tried to get into a corner so my back was covered. Let me put it this way, if I was going to rob a bank, I wouldn’t walk in the front door, you know? I’d come in the back!”

Why the Rumble works …
“I think it’s because of the way it’s set up. You can pick the guys you want to win. And at the Rumble, every fan picks who they want to win and they ride that roller coaster every time someone new comes out. They think, ‘Leave my guy alone!’ or they want someone to go after that guy, so they stay away from theirs. Even if you only last 20 minutes, someone might say, ‘Hey, that guy’s got something going on.’ And the people are with you because they either want to see you win it all or, if you’re a real jerk, they want to see you go out there and get killed. I’ve been on both sides of that fence.”

Other Rumble memories …
“I remember the 1992 Rumble, when Flair, Piper and myself were out there almost by ourselves and we had some fun doubling back on each other. I like that kind of thing, playing mind games with your opponent. Especially the three of us. I’d like to have gone around the country with that matchup!”

Jim Duggan

"Hacksaw” Jim Duggan won the very first Royal Rumble, sending One Man Gang tumbling over the top rope for the win. He then went on to enjoy a notable rivalry with Andre the Giant, cementing himself as one of WWE’s true fan favorites.

On doubts that the Rumble would take off…
“I think anytime when something new like that comes out, people wonder. They used to do Battle Royals one way in WWE at the time. So when they come back and changed the whole format, I think everyone wondered if it would get over to the extent it has. I don’t think anyone knew how big it would become.”

Navigating the chaos…
“You have to be back at the top of your game, you can’t coast out there. There are so many guys in the ring, and there are big men moving around. Joints are always an issue. No one wants anyone else falling on the back of his legs. It’s tough out there. With 10 guys behind you, someone might be taking off from the top rope or any number of things could be going on, and if you’re not aware of it, it can get pretty crowded. ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan’s deal was to get in the corner, so I wouldn’t have to pick and choose my targets. If it moved, I hit it.”

On his other favorite Rumble…
“It was the 2009 Rumble, and I was one of the later guys coming out. I got a good pop, as a lot of the guys from my generation do. Fans remember us, which we are grateful for. I came through the curtain and stormed to the ring and, of course, one of the first guys I roll into and am nose-to-nose with is The Undertaker. When he first came into WWE, I actually contested a lot of his first matches, against him and Paul Bearer. So here I am, face to face, with the big Deadman. I give him a shot, and a shot, and a real big shot and he went down like a big tank hit him. Then, of course, Big Show came down and tossed my a** out, but I shined there for a good couple of minutes.”