 Costantino in 2003 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Americo Sabastiano Costantino (1961-10-01)October 1, 1961 (age 64) |
| Alma mater | Northwestern Military and Naval Academy |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Rico[1] Rico Costantino[1] The Cobra[2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Billed weight | 230 lb (100 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Las Vegas, Nevada[1] |
| Trained by | Jesse Hernandez[1] Ohio Valley Wrestling |
| Debut | 1998[2] |
| Retired | 2012 |
Americo Sebastiano Costantino (born October 1, 1961) is a retired Americanprofessional wrestler. He performed under thering namesRico Costantino andRico inWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1998 to 2004.
Costantino was a contestant on theAmerican television seriesAmerican Gladiators. When challenging one of the show's gladiators,Gemini, Constantino won once and fought to a draw twice in their three Joust bouts. Costantino was the champion for the first half of the 1990–1991 season. In the Grand Championship, Rico came up just short, losing to Craig Branham by 7 points (3 1/2 seconds) in the Eliminator portion of the show. Costantino next appeared on the Europeangame showFort Boyard, with a win over his former Gladiator nemesis Craig Branham. On the show, he was the only competitor to capture the highest tiered “red ball” in thebungee jump challenge on an upswing.
Costantino began to train with theEmpire Wrestling Federation for a career in the wrestling business.[1] Costantino was discovered byWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) officialsTerry Taylor andDr. Tom Prichard.[1] After only 12 matches, Costantino signed a developmental deal with the WWF.[1] Costantino was sent toOhio Valley Wrestling for further training, before being sent up to work for WWF.[1]
He became a three timeOVW Champion, aMPPW Heavyweight Champion and aHWA Heavyweight Champion.
In 2001, started working dark matches for the WWF againstRandy Orton,Brock Lesnar,Raven,Hurricane Helms,Billy Gunn andSteven Richards.
He debuted in WWF on the March 21, 2002 episode ofSmackDown! as the stylist ofBilly and Chuck (the heel gimmicks ofBilly Gunn andChuck Palumbo), establishing himself as avillain.[3] Rico portrayed a homosexual stylist as hisgimmick and grew muttonchops. On the May 9 episode ofSmackDown!, Rico wrestled his first match in WWE, where he teamed with Billy and Chuck to defeatAl Snow,Maven andRikishi.[4] AtJudgment Day, Rico was forced to team with Rikishi to defeat his clients, Billy and Chuck for theWWE Tag Team Championship.[5][6] On the June 6 episode ofSmackDown!, Ricoturned on Rikishi by helping Billy and Chuck in pinning Rikishi for the tag titles.[7]
On the September 12 episode ofSmackDown!, Rico moved over to theRawbrand and became themanager of3-Minute Warning (then-heel,Rosey andJamal).[8] He ended up turning on 3-Minute Warning after they lost a match to theDudley Boyz. However both he and 3-Minute Warning all remained heels during that time.[9] After turning on 3-Minute Warning, Rico scored an upset victory overRic Flair.[10]
Rico would soon return to Raw in 2003 with Miss Jackie appearing as his manager. He retained the essence of the masculinity gimmick he shared with Gunn and Palumbo while taking it to new levels, much in the vein ofAdrian Street and painting his face and later grew out his hair.[11] Then, on the March 22, 2004 edition of Raw, Rico got drafted toSmackDown! and became afan favorite due to fan reaction to his over-the-top exótico style gimmick, teaming up with an initially reluctant partner,Charlie Haas, (with whom he held theWWE Tag Team Championship)[12] and had a valet,Miss Jackie.[13][14] Rico was unexpectedly released by WWE on November 7, 2004.[1]
After his release, he went toAll-Japan Pro Wrestling, where he and former WWE colleagueBull Buchanan defeatedMitsuya Nagai andMasayuki Naruse on the first event of the "Excite Series" in Tokyo, Japan to win theAll Asia Tag Team Championship.[15] Costantino retired fromprofessional wrestling in July 2005, causing him and Buchanan to vacate the All Asia Tag Team Titles.
Rico came out of retirement for a Future Stars of Wrestling (FSW) TV taping in Las Vegas on November 17, 2012, where he teamed up with Beast to defeat the team of Gregory Sharpe and Clutch.[16]
On October 12, 2024, Rico made an appearance forAll Elite Wrestling on theWrestleDream Zero Hour, managingMxM Collection.
Costantino enteredNorthwestern Military and Naval Academy, graduating near the top of his class and at one point considered enrollment atWest Point. Whilst attending Northwestern Military and Naval Academy inLake Geneva, Wisconsin, Costantino returned toLas Vegas and settled into a career as aparamedic, which in turn led to enrollment in the police academy.[17] Costantino was also on theSWAT team at one point, paving the way for his next career as abodyguard.[1]
In August 2005, Costantino completed his law enforcement training inBoulder City, Nevada, outside of Las Vegas. As of 2006, he was a Sergeant Inspector for theNevada Taxi Cab Authority.[18] Beginning in 2016, he suffered health issues relating to heart problems and a series of concussions.[19]
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Media related toRico Constantino at Wikimedia Commons