Rico Recalls Getting Signed to a WWE Developmental Deal in OVW, How He Got Called Up to the Main Roster

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE Superstar Rico (aka Rico Constantino) discussed how he started his wrestling career at 38, getting signed to a WWE developmental deal, and how Jim Cornette fought for his job, which led to him getting called up to the main roster. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Rico on Starting Wrestling at 38 Years Old

“I was going to do it with my brother and eventually tag with him and stuff like that. We went down to school of hard knocks, Empire Wrestling Federation with Jesse Hernandez. So I go there, and Jesse starts giving me hints. I’m listening, and he asked me to come back. So once or twice a week, my brother and I would drive to San Bernardino, work all day at the bail bonds, three-and-a-half-hour drive, work out three hours, three-and-a-half hours back, and then go to work the next day. I ended up being the heavyweight champion. I took it from The Ice Man, and while I was champion, I got to wrestle Honky Tonk Man in a title defense, and Jesse told me, ‘You won’t go over clean. There’ll be a disqualification this and that.’ I said, I’m fine with that.

“I’m getting to wrestle one of the guys I saw on TV. And we go on the match, and I give him a headlock takeover, and at the end he tells me to pin him 123, in the ring. Then he tells me, as I go over to him, he goes, ‘Go smash my guitar.’ So I get his guitar, and I smash it on a ring post and everything like that. And Jesse’s like, ‘What are you doing?!’ I get to the back, and Jesse goes, ‘What did you do?’ I said I did exactly what he said. You’re kidding. Let’s go see him right now. Yes, sir. We saw him, and Wayne gave me a great compliment. And Jesse goes, Why? He goes, ‘When he gave me that first headlock takeover, I knew this kid knew what he was doing.’ Kid? I’m over 38.”

On How His Brother Felt When Rico Got Signed to a Developmental Deal With OVW

“Very supportive, because the developmental contract is not that lucrative. Very, very, very small. I had a wife and two stepchildren at the time, and he would help make ends meet. I went through OVW, and I only wrestled eight months and was in 12 matches, and Finkel calls me at the bail bonds office going, ‘Hey, kid. You want to try out in Connecticut? 10-day tryout?’ Yes! ‘Okay, give me your information.’”

On His Gimmick in OVW

“The American gladiator champion. That was it red, white and blue, all American hero. And then I was having a match with Flash Flanagan, he was supposed to give me hip toss, and I was supposed to flip out of it and hip toss him. Well, my leg hit the ring, and my quad snapped right in the middle of the title fight. So I was down. I mean, from the knee below, it was just like this. So Nick Dinsmore did a run-in on those two, and then they got me out, and I was gone, and the doctor said, You’ll never wrestle again. I said, Oh, okay. He goes, ‘So you might want to think…’ I said, Wait, wait, tell me that part again. He goes, what? ‘You will never wrestle again?’ I said, Yeah, that one. Say it again. ‘You’ll never wrestle again.’ I said, keep telling me, keep telling me. He put me back together. I went to rehab, and the rehab was where famous people went. I mean, Andre Agassi and his wife went there. Every day I was on the bike, I was sitting next to Tiger Woods, who was a wrestling fan. I was a golf fan from my father, and I’m sitting next to Tiger Woods. This is before he married his girlfriend. So we’d sit there, and I’d tell him about wrestling, and he’d tell me about golf, and who was the heel in golf? Vijay Singh was the heel. We were talking, and he’s wearing Nikes all the time. He looked at me, and he goes, ‘You got the wrong shoes on.’ Because I was wearing Reeboks or something. And then one day during therapy, he comes in, he’s not wearing Nikes. And I said, what happened? He goes, ‘All those shoes gave me blisters on my heel.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you’re wearing the wrong shoe.’”

On How He Got Called Up to the Main WWE Roster

“I was hoping for the call, but my age played something on it. I was too old. I’d get the reports, you know, they’re saying you’re too old. So here I am trying to do everything and just get a shot. It finally came down to you’re going to be cut in 90 days. [Well] there it goes. Well, Cornette was upset at it. So Cornette, Danny Davis, JR, because I was always in the JR report, and I got to do a spot with Stone Cold at Christmas Chaos in Louisville, they stood up for me. So when SmackDown and Raw came to Louisville, Cornette had a meeting with Stephanie and said, ‘You’re going to cut him anyway. Just call him up to be on the road, do dark matches, maybe you’ll think of something.’”

Rico’s WWE run included a shocking upset victory over WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair on Monday Night Raw in 2002. He was released from the promotion in November 2004.

Rico also made an appearance for AEW at WrestleDream 2024, being revealed as “The Third Man” of MxM Collection against The Acclaimed.