Santino Marella opens up about his iconic Royal Rumble Elimination.
In 2008, Santino Marella broke a Royal Rumble record long held by the Warlord of the fastest star to be eliminated. Marella charged in the ring and immediately was clotheslined over the top rope by Royal Rumble legend and WWE Hall of Famer Kane. Although much hasn’t been spoken about the iconic spot, Marella recently opened up about how that moment came to be.
On the latest Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda, the former Intercontinental Champion revealed that WCW alum Dean Malenko approached Vince McMahon about Marella’s idea to break the record. After Marella got the okay, everyone who knew the spot beforehand was on pins and needles:
“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.”
WWE tried to break Marella’s record with Titus O’ Neal back in 2015. Marella’s funny Royal Rumble moment is just one of many that longtime WWE fans remember him of. He was released by WWE in 2016 and has since made sporadic appearances.