Rico retires

[Nightfall 0]

From Slam! Sports.

 

A wounded Rico calls it quits

By GREG OLIVER - Producer, SLAM! Wrestling

 

Rico

 

LAS VEGAS - Rico Costantino is pretty bitter about the way his wrestling career ended. But it's not over his surprise departure from WWE in November 2004, which he sees as a business decision not a personal one, but over his last tour for All Japan.

 

"All Japan is a bunch of liars, liars. And I will go on record saying that they are liars," Costantino told SLAM! Wrestling in an exclusive interview in his hometown of Las Vegas. "I left the country with no money. Nothing. With the promise that they would wire me."

 

After being released from his WWE contract in a phone call from talent relation boss John Laurinaitas (Johnny Ace), Rico was paid to stay at home for 90 days. Despite being contacted almost immediately by All Japan to come wrestle for them, he declined until his 90-day no compete clause ended on February 2, 2005. On that day, he worked his first All Japan match, teaming with Bull Buchanan to defeat Mitsuya Nagai and Masayuki Naruse to win the All-Asian Tag Team titles.

 

Rico had been convinced to give All Japan a try by friends like Buchanan and Taka Michinoku. He worked out the deal with All Japan's American liaison, but was repeatedly told that a contract was not necessary.

 

"They promised me $3,000 a week, and I worked 17 days there. That's $429 a day. They owed me $6,800. I took a $400 draw, which means they owe me $6,400. Out of $6,400, they wired me $4,500," he said. "That is just dishonest."

 

His last match in Japan was also his last ever wrestling match. At 44 years of age, Rico Costantino's brief flirtation with pro wrestling is over.

 

"I haven't worked since. I am completely done. ... I can't say it's a bitter end to wrestling. It's not. That was an incident, unfortunately, that I allowed myself to get into, to trust," he admitted.

 

Still, Rico is a very positive person, and did actually enjoy being in Japan and the in-ring action. "Japan was great, the fans were great, the wrestling was great, the other guys were great. Kowada tried to take a little liberty with me, but I soon changed his way. He tried to be a little stiff, and I was a little stiff back. After that, we had a mutual understanding. ... They wanted to see what I had. Okay. Just don't knock my teeth out."

 

Talking about his dismissal from the WWE roster is a lot harder.

 

"To me, it was a shock. Ace called me and he said 'We've got to let you go.' I asked him why. Was it something I did?" Rico said, before resuming after a long period of silence. "'No. It's just one of those things.' It hurts. It hurts now."

 

Having had the varied career that he has -- police officer, security guard, American Gladiator, motivational speaker, busboy -- Costantino has found it easy to come to terms with the business side of the termination, just not the personal one.

 

"It's not personal. It's a business. It's a business decision. That's all it was," he said. "I was never given an answer. Thank you, they said. Johnny Ace said maybe in six months they'd bring me back. Johnny said, 'you're on my list to come back. You're a good guy Rico. You've done everything we've asked of you.' And I never complained about anything.

 

"I was proud to be a professional wrestler. I was honored to be a professional wrestler. I was honored to work for Vince [McMahon], first and foremost. Vince could have picked anybody. Why'd he go with a 38-year-old guy? What happened? What made you look at me? You saw something. ... granted, I wasn't a top money maker, but I added variety to the show. You can't have a whole two hours of serious crap."

 

He doesn't keep in touch with anybody from WWE, though his wife is friendly with Jackie Gayda and Charlie Haas, and they hope to attend their wedding later this year. "It hurts too much because I love them all," Rico said. "There [were] some people I didn't like because of their actions. Yeah, some people I had some rough times with. But you know what? We were all family. To me, for five years, I was family with these people. Good, bad, indifferent, we all stuck together. But I don't keep in touch. I have to move on. I have to move on with my life. Not to say that I won't keep in touch in the future, but right now, I'm focused ... time heals all wounds. It wasn't a malice-inflicted wound, but it was a wound somebody didn't see coming. So it hurts."

 

For now, Rico Costantino is looking to the past for a new career. He's enrolled in training for law enforcement again -- he first graduated from police academy in 1985 -- and given the number of police around Las Vegas, there are many job possibilities. He still has a couple more months of re-training, and has found it rewarding working with trainees almost half his age.

 

"I'm glad I'm taking the class now, because since 1985 to 2005, laws have changed significantly," he said. The day before he met with SLAM! Wrestling, Rico had been in a study session into the late hours with some fellow trainees. "They're looking to me for guidance, so I'm a little teacher again."

 

One regret from the decision to return to law enforcement - he had to lose the sideburns that made him so recognizable around town, even months from being on WWE TV.

[Guest krazykat72]

Rico really seemed like a decent guy.

For a late starter, he had a nice little career.

His OVW stuff was really great.

Good Luck to him.

 

-Paul Jacobi-

[Matt Young 0]

It's really sad the way this has happened. I met Rico before Smackdown house show in June 2004, and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

 

I think I'm the kiss of death for wrestlers. I met Rico that day in June, he was injured and dropped the tag titles 2 days later, was released, and is now retired. I met Kanyon at a house show during the Alliance days, and 2 days later he injured himself, was out for over a year, and is now retired. I met Vampiro at a WCW Thunder taping in 2000, and he was gone later that year. I met Buff Bagwell at the same show; he was arrested seconds later.

 

I also saw Nidia and Jazz' last match, and although the majority of my friends on the NMW roster are healthy, 2 of my closest friends, Jeremy and Rob, have career threatening injuries.

 

Jingus has nothing on me!

 

But in all seriousness, Rico's a great guy, so best of luck to him in his future endeavors.

[tominator89 0]

Vince would be lucky if he could find more workers like Rico. He took every stupid angle they gave him and made the best of it.

[iliketurtles 0]

Ladies and gentleman, one of the most misused pieces of talent in the history of professional wrestling, Rico Costantino.

 

I also met him in July of 2002...great guy.

[Guest news_gimmick]

I always enjoyed his characters, he portrayed them very well. I will always remember his completely random clean win over Flair from September 2002. Damn shame indeed he's retired now.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

He sucked, was old...and gay. No big loss.

[tbondrage99 0]

He sucked, was old...and gay. No big loss.

Yup, he sure was gay, thats why he has a wife.

[starvenger 0]

Wesley "Two Scoops" Berry > Rico Constantino...

 

In all seriousness, Rico seems like a great guy, and I hope that he does well in law enforcement or anything else he decides to do.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

He sucked, was old...and gay. No big loss.

Yup, he sure was gay, thats why he has a wife.

I guess you never saw the makeup or tights he wore.

 

G - A - Y

[Guest news_gimmick]

He sucked, was old...and gay. No big loss.

Yup, he sure was gay, thats why he has a wife.

I guess you never saw the makeup or tights he wore.

 

G - A - Y

Yup, someones a bit misinformed.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

He sucked, was old...and gay. No big loss.

Yup, he sure was gay, thats why he has a wife.

I guess you never saw the makeup or tights he wore.

 

G - A - Y

Yup, someones a bit misinformed.

Yeah, tbondrage99 doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Ladies and gentleman, one of the most misused pieces of talent in the history of professional wrestling, Rico Costantino.

 

I also met him in July of 2002...great guy.

Ease the drama, holmes. He wasn't that good and he certainly wasn't one of the most misused guys in wrestling history.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

Why is it that every guy who sucked in WWE, and therefore got fired, suddenly becomes great afterwards?

[Gary Floyd 0]

Hope the guy has a good future.

 

Just a question, but why was he let go?

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Because he'll never get over (which was the generic reason given for the group of guys they released at the same time as Rico), despite the fact that he WAS over, and was a servicable tag-team guy (uh, no pun intended).

 

He was older, and they wanted to make room for some newer guys, so they figured he was expendable.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Because he'll never get over (which was the generic reason given for the group of guys they released at the same time as Rico), despite the fact that he WAS over, and was a servicable tag-team guy (uh, no pun intended).

 

He was older, and they wanted to make room for some newer guys, so they figured he was expendable.

Well, that's WWE "logic" for ya

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

He didn't suck. Respect.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

Because he'll never get over (which was the generic reason given for the group of guys they released at the same time as Rico), despite the fact that he WAS over, and was a servicable tag-team guy (uh, no pun intended).

 

He was older, and they wanted to make room for some newer guys, so they figured he was expendable.

Well, that's WWE "logic" for ya

That's actually good logic.

 

He didn't suck. Respect.

 

On WWE TV he sucked. He may be a nice guy, but I have no clue. As a wrestler I haven't missed him once.

[Guest nokia]

Rico was and still is a class act...and those are hard to find in this business

[Guest cosbywasmurdered]

R.O. & D. got screwed

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

Rico was and still is a class act...and those are hard to find in this business

How do you know that? What is so classy about making unwanted advances at other men?

[Guest nokia]

Rico was and still is a class act...and those are hard to find in this business

How do you know that? What is so classy about making unwanted advances at other men?

Rico was always one of the FEW guys that interacted with the fans and took his time and chatted when making apperances

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Rico was and still is a class act...and those are hard to find in this business

How do you know that? What is so classy about making unwanted advances at other men?

Rico was a class act.

 

And you're being a dick.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Rico was and still is a class act...and those are hard to find in this business

How do you know that? What is so classy about making unwanted advances at other men?

Dude, just quit it. The man was not gay, it was just his character, ok?

[Guest Prof_Plague]

He sucked, was old...and gay. No big loss.

Yup, he sure was gay, thats why he has a wife.

That doesn't prove anything.

[Guest Prof_Plague]

Rico was and still is a class act...and those are hard to find in this business

How do you know that? What is so classy about making unwanted advances at other men?

Rico was a class act.

 

And you're being a dick.

whitemilesdavis raised a good point.

 

How do we know how he was really like backstage? All we saw was what we were shown in WWE land.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

How do we know how he was really like backstage?  All we saw was what we were shown in WWE land.

I guess it might have been the fact that nobody in wrestling who talked about Rico had a bad word to say about the guy, and that whenever his name was brought in various interviews, people had nothing but praise for him.

 

All we saw was what we were shown in WWE land.

 

Speak for yourself.

[Guest Prof_Plague]

All we saw was what we were shown in WWE land.

 

Speak for yourself.

I just did.

[Paul Stanley 0]

I met Buff Bagwell at the same show; he was arrested seconds later.

Gold.