Rico Reveals His WWE Salary, Believes Asking for a Raise & Vince McMahon Not Liking His Age Led To His Release

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE Superstar Rico (aka Rico Constantino) discussed his WWE salary, revealing that he made $75,000 a year. According to Rico, he tried to get a raise, which he think, along with Vince McMahon not liking his age, ultimately led to his WWE release. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Rico on His WWE Salary in the 2000s

“Minimum, which was $75,000 a year.”

On Wanting To Get a Raise

“No, I wanted a $52,000 raise on top of the $75k. I thought I was worth it, and Charlie and I and Jackie were about to come out on the SmackDown magazine front cover, and he told me I wasn’t popular.”

Rico on How He Thinks This and Vince McMahon Not Liking His Age Led To His Release

“Yeah. Vince didn’t like me because of my age in the beginning, he was forced to put me there. And if anybody out there looks at my background, I’m an Action Man. I’m a straight to law enforcement. I’ve been to two police academies, graduated number one in both of them, I’ve got life-saving awards. I was voted one of the officers of the year by Crime Stoppers for catching a person who was escaping her parole, who led me to a person who was wanted for murder, and I caught a homicide suspect and shipped them back to LA. So I’m that type of guy. EMT, paramedic, people running this way, I’m running to trouble. I want to help people. So here Vince gives me this style in some feminine character, they may be hoping I fail. Well, I turned it around.”

On How He Received the Stinkface From Rikishi

“Oh, yeah, I’ve talked to Rikishi since then. He says, that’s gone viral. What happened is, the week before I made my debut on SmackDown, and I kissed Charlie Haas right in the mouth, I’m talking a pucker, and he couldn’t get back in the ring, so he was counted out. Well, the next week, he was in line for the Tag Team Championship, and it was Rikishi and Scotty. Now I’m a face, those two are faces, and he’s a heel. So I relied a lot on Rikishi to figure this out, and we wanted to get the flamboyant over. So one part before the stink face, Rikishi got tired of me fooling around, and he shot me off for a clothesline. I did a sunset flip on him. You know when he smacks his butt to sit on you. He smacked his butt. I reached up and I smacked his butt. He went, Oh! He sold it like a million bucks, and went and tagged in Scotty. So now they’ve had enough.

“They don’t want me in the ring, and they’re beating up on Charlie Haas and Rikishi is going through his finish, and he puts Charlie in the corner, gives him the squash. Charlie starts to do this, and everybody knows. Rikishi walks to the center. Charlie falls. And I’m like, oh no, I can’t have him take a stink face. I jump down, and he gives us the turn, and I get Charlie by the leg, and I drag him out of the ring, and all of a sudden, a loud boo. I went, Wait a minute to Jackie, and I jump in the ring, and I get into position, and then everybody went from boo to falling out of their seat. So then I stick my hand out to Jackie. She pulls some Chapstick out of her bra. I put it on, throw it up, and I go, come on! He goes, okay, and he gives me the stink face. I’m like woo! Give me a cigarette or something.”

Rico’s was ultimately released from WWE 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.