Rico Constantino’s experience with AEW was a complete 180 to what he experienced during his tenure as a WWE Superstar decades earlier.
During the WrestleDream Zero Hour pre-show, Rico joined the MxM Collection but the models still came up short against The Acclaimed.
On a recent edition of the “Stylin'” podcast, Rico compared his brief tenure with AEW to his time as part of WWE. He said,
“I just went into AEW’s locker room, and it was night and day from WWE back in the 2000s to AEW now. Everyone was friendly, you didn’t feel that heaviness in the air, people were actually talking to each other, getting along. They got a lot of good. I got to see a lot of guys who were WWE, and everybody in the locker room came up to me at one point and thanked me for my career and what I did as characters.”
Rico also recalled meeting AEW President Tony Khan, who recalled the former wrestler, but for Constantino’s work outside of WWE. He said,
“The locker room was fantastic, the executives like Sonjay [Dutt] and stuff like that, I met Mr. Khan. Mr. Khan shocked me. He goes, ‘I remember you from ‘American Gladiators. I was a big fan.’ That’s 34 years ago [laughs]. Everybody came up and thanked me for being there, they said they appreciated my work, what I did in the past. It felt really good to have somebody appreciate your work. It must have made a difference because after 19 years, they’re still remembering me.”
Rico was part of WWE from 2002 to 2004 and held the Tag Team Championships with Rikishi and Charlie Haas.
