Rico comments on his appearance at AEW WrestleDream.
Rico, formerly known as Rico Constantino, made his AEW debut at AEW WrestleDream: Zero Hour. He was revealed as MxM Collection's third man for their match against The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens), who had Billy Gunn in their corner. Gunn took out Rico with a Fameasser during the match, and The Acclaimed went on to win the match.
Speaking on his Stylin' podcast, Rico detailed how his appearance at AEW WrestleDream came together.
“Executives from AEW called, and they said their tag team, MxM Collection, needed my guidance because they were going against The Acclaimed, and guess who was Acclaimed’s manager? Saggy-ass Billy Gunn. My old client. The largest disappointment of my entire illustrious career. When I heard that, I was on the plane. They sent a private plane, I got on that, flew to Seattle, and started working with Mason and Mansoor, getting them all ready. Then, we’re having the match, and then things got crazy, everybody spilled out, and my guy was reaching, Mansoor was reaching in the ring. I just went in the ring, I didn’t do anything, but I was trying to pull him up to get his momentum, possibly to get a good countout victory. So I was pulling him in, and I slip, and unbeknownst to me, Billy Gunn snuck up behind me, and he was in the ring with me. We’re not supposed to wrestle. He’s telling me all this stuff, and I went, wait a minute, you’re disrespectful. So I went to spin kick him. He was quick. He caught my foot, kicked me in the gut, and he gave me a Fameasser. He had the audacity to Fameasser me. Saggy-ass Billy Gunn," Rico said.
Rico also commented on the differences between the WWE and AEW locker rooms and noted that AEW's was "fantastic." He highlighted how it seemed more positive. Rico then recalled meeting Tony Khan, who said that he was a big fan of his on "American Gladiators" years ago.
“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. 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 said.
As of this writing, there is no word on whether Rico will return to AEW programming.
Rico had a memorable stint in WWE, as he was the stylist for Billy and Chuck Palumbo during their controversial run together.
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