Getting its start in 1988, The Royal Rumble has been a mainstay of the WWE since "Hatchsaw" Jim Duggan won the inaugural competition after the final elimination of the One Man Gang. Steadily gaining popularity over its first few years, The Royal Rumble has gone on to be one of the four major pay-per-view programs of the promotion, often setting up the winner for a world championship title shot or for the world championship itself.
With 30+ of these wrestling masterpieces taking place so far, combatants have seen varying levels of success. Each time a champion is crowned, there is inevitably an entrant that performs horribly and blows their opportunity in a very quick fashion. Here are the ten quickest eliminations in Royal Rumble history.
10 Montell Vontavius Porter (0:07 In 2010)
MVP's place on this list seems worse than it really is, as he used his entry to get payback. Porter, who was entry #14, was attacked on his way to the ring by The Miz and was quickly ushered backstage for medical treatment. The Miz was later announced as entry #16, and since MVP had not entered the ring, his time had not officially started. Quickly following The Miz, MVP pummeled and eliminated the man that had attacked him just minutes earlier. The bad news for MVP was he eliminated himself in the process, as both wrestlers toppled over the top rope and fell to the floor.
9 Gillberg (0:06 In 1999)
Vince McMahon's hilarious answer to WCW's Goldberg, Gillberg instead lost as much as his rival promotion's counterpart won. Entry #6 in the 1999 edition of The Royal Rumble, Gillberg wandered into the ring, put his foot on the bottom rope, addressed the crowd and was quickly dumped over the top rope by Edge. Undaunted by his quick exit, Gillberg continued to pose after his elimination, showing off his less than perfect physique.
8 The Godfather (0:05 In 2013)
A surprise in the 2013 Royal Rumble, The Godfather was entry #17 and wasn't currently involved in any angles with the WWE. Despite this, The Godfather arrived to the ring in style with his "hos" and flashy jewelry, and he received a warm welcome from the crowd. That was certainly the highlight for him that night.
As soon as he stepped foot in the ring, Dolph Ziggler dropkicked him over the top rope and onto the floor. His official time in the competition is actually longer due to his balancing on the top rope for a bit on his way out.
7 "The King" Jerry Lawler (0:04 In 1997)
By 1997 "The King" Jerry Lawler was beginning to settle into spending most of his time in the announcing booth. In fact, Lawler was calling the Royal Rumble with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon, when his entrance music blared through Alamodome in San Antonio to announce to the capacity crowd he was entry #22. Lawler got up, took off his headphone, climbed up on the ring apron, jumped over the top rope, got two punches to the face from Bret "The Hitman" Hart and tumbled over the top rope. These four seconds of wrestling must have been hard on Lawler, as he returned to the announcing booth and spent the rest of the event gibbering about how he would perform once he entered the event, seemingly unaware he had already been eliminated.
6 Bushwhacker Luke (0:04 In 1991)
Bushwhacker Luke had a quick night in 1991. Doing the patented "Bushwhacker Walk" all the way down the ramp, Luke climbed over the top rope and continued on his walk across the ring, but at this point being assisted by Earthquake. Earthquake's escort led to Luke being tossed over the top rope, where he landed on his feet below. Not even breaking stride, this half of The Bushwhackers continued around the ring and right back up the ramp to complete his entry in the night's contest. Bushwhacker Luke did nothing to redeem himself in the 1995 edition of The Royal Rumble as he was eliminated in just twelve seconds.
5 Titus O'Neil (0:04 In 2015)
O'Neil's quick night of work at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia will be one he would most likely want to forget. He looked like he was ready to cause some damage in the night's events as he slammed his hands down on the ring stairs twice and climbed into the ring with purpose. But, no sooner than his time in The Royal Rumble officially began, it ended.
Instantly spotted by Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, the two teamed up for a running double clothesline. O'Neal was stunned and the two superstars grabbed his feet and he was quickly disposed of over the top rope.
4 Owen Hart (0:03 In 1995)
Things move pretty fast in professional wrestling, and Owen Hart's performance in The Royal Rumble in 1995 proves this two-fold. Owen made his way into the ring and ran straight towards The British Bulldog to attack him. More than ready for the attack, The British Bulldog gave Hart a back body drop over the top rope and onto the floor below. A little over a year later, Hart and Bulldog seemed to get past these three seconds of combat to form a tag-team. They work together to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.
3 Mo (0:03 In 1995)
Only a couple of minutes later in the same Royal Rumble, the crowd witnessed another epically short entrant. His time it was Mo, who had his most successful stint in the WWE when he teamed up with Mable to form the tag team Men On A Mission. This group held the WWE Tag Team Championship for a whopping two days, but that reign seems like an eternity in comparison to Mo's entry in this edition of the Royal Rumble. Obviously not learning anything from Owen Hart's earlier exit, Mo ran straight at King Kong Bundy, who was stationed by the ropes. Another back body drop was the result, and Mo landed on the floor outside the ring, ending his night.
2 The Warlord (0:02 In 1989)
Billed at 6'5 and 323 lbs., The Warlord is a mountain of a man. His size really didn't help him back in 1989 as entrant #21 was quickly disposed of by Hulk Hogan, which led to The Warlord holding an egregious record for Royal Rumble futility for over twenty years.
No quicker than The Warlord could turn around after entering the ring, he was met by Hulk Hogan's running lariat and found himself flipping over the top rope and onto the ground below. Two seconds in a Royal Rumble was viewed by many as one of those unbreakable records that would stand the test of time.
1 Santino Marella (0:01 In 2009)
Santino Marella taught everyone a fantastic lesson during the one second of wrestling action he was a part of during The Royal Rumble of 2009. Don't enter the ring on the side where one of the many WWE big men is standing and waiting for you! In this case, it was Kane, who perfectly timed his attack of Marella as he slid under the ropes and quickly stood up. Going right back out of the ring and being eliminated, Santino Marella pleaded with the referee with "I wasn't ready! I wasn't ready!" Sorry Santino, to be a factor in a Royal Rumble, a wrestler always needs to be ready, and in the inevitable discussion of sports and sports entertainment's "unbreakable records", adding this one to the mix should be a no-brainer.