Santino Marella On The Backstage Reaction To His Record Breaking Royal Rumble Elimination

During the 2009 Royal Rumble match Santino Marella managed to break The Warlord’s 1989 shortest elimination record as Santino was eliminated by Kane in 1.9 seconds.

Marella’s elimination got quite the reaction out of fans, and during an episode of Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda the former WWE Intercontinental Champion explained how it all came together.

“So it was Dean Malenko, we were going over the rumble. And he was the one that told me he goes Okay, number 17, whatever it was, Santino you’re coming out and he said, it’s going to be quick. And I said, Okay. Put my hand up, he went yeah? ‘So, can I try and break the record?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, I have to clear that and get back to you.’ And then he went and he guess he spoke to Vince and he came back later and he said, ‘Yeah, you got the green light to try and break the record.’”

“Jamie Noble and Dean Malenko are putting it together. And so Kane was eliminating me so I said, Okay, listen, I’m gonna slide in and see that pop up. I’m doing the f*cking height like we call the high jump note, the Fosbury flop right, I’m going over. So just be there and then everyone was excited.”

“All the guys were excited because they knew I was trying to break the record. So they were making it like they were adding to the pressure like ‘You got to do it perfect man. If you slip one step you’re gonna break.’ And they’re like even saying to Glenn, to Kane, ‘You got to be there right away to just stand up. You got to be there’. And he’s like, ‘Stop pressuring me. I’ve go other things on my mind.’ He eliminated like so many guys. So music hit, slid in, flawless, stood up, hook, gone. And luckily, because you know, let’s say you don’t go all the way over and teeter for a second. You know, when the window of opportunity was pretty small, but we nailed it.”

Santino Marella first debuted on WWE programming in April of 2007 when he was pulled from the audience as a “fan” and put into a match with Umaga. He ended up defeating Umaga and won the Intercontinental Title in his first match on WWE TV. He went on to provide many memorable moments up until his release in 2016, one of which happened to be his Royal Rumble elimination in 2009.

H/T Inside The Ropes