Rico Constantino

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rico Constantino


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Rico Rico Constantino
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Billed weight	230 lb (108 kg)
Born	October 1, 1961 Las Vegas, Nevada
Trained by	Jesse Hernandez
Debut	1998
Retired	2005

Rico Tomhas Constantino (born October 1, 1961 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a former professional wrestler who competed for World Wrestling Entertainment.

1 Career
2 In wrestling
3 Championships and accomplishments

[edit] Career

Prior to embarking on a wrestling career, Rico (full first name Americco), led a relatively turbulant life until his entrance to Northwestern Military & Naval Academy. A model student, he graduated near the top of his class and at one point considered enrollment at West Point. Instead, Rico returned to Las Vegas and settled into a career as a paramedic. This led to enrollment in the police academy, from which he graduated first in the entire state of Nevada. Rico was also on the SWAT team at one point, paving the way for his next career as a bodyguard.

Rico also worked as a stuntman as Batman and Conan in a California theme park, and injured his knee doing this.

[edit] TV Shows

Rico was a contestant on American Gladiators. He was challenged by Gemini (Michael Horton) to find out if "he had what it took" to be a contestant for the show. He would end up defeating Gemini in his best event, the Joust, one of the few contenders to do so (Horton lost only 8 of his Jousts on his three seasons of AG). Rico went on to defeat all the other contestants and Gladiators to become 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 a mere two seconds in the Eliminator.

Rico's only loss on the Wall portion of the series was due to a concussion suffered in a prior event.

There are four American Gladiator trading cards featuring Rico, as well as a Red Challenger action figure that bears his image.

Rico next appeared on the European game show Capture Ft. Boyard, with a win over his former Gladiator nemesis Craig Branham. On the show, he was the first and only competitor to capture the needed key in the bungee jump challenge on an upswing. The rules were changed after that, as no one actually thought it could be done until that point. The use of their clothing to carry the valuable coins was not allowed, so Rico picked up one of his female teammates and filled her lap.

[edit] Power Team

A chance encounter led Rico to being recruited by The Power Team. A two week tryout lasted almost two years as Rico traveled the world impressing young people with feats of strength. At one point while with the Power Team, he was ordained as a minister to further allow him to counsel kids. His work with children has been vast - from the Special Olympics and various other children's charities.

[edit] Wrestling career

Rico began to train with the Empire Wrestling Federation for a career in the wrestling business. Rico was discovered by WWF officials Terry Taylor and Dr. Tom Prichard. After only 12 matches, Rico signed a developmental deal with the WWF.

Rico was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling for further training, before being sent up to work for the WWF. He debuted in WWE on the March 21, 2002 episode of SmackDown! originally as a heel, but was turned face due to fan reaction. Early on he tag teamed with future WWE superstar Randy Orton. He was best known as a manager of teams like Billy and Chuck (Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo) and Three Minute Warning, portraying a subtle homosexual stylist as his gimmick. Later in his WWE stint, Rico teamed up with Charlie Haas and had a valet, Miss Jackie. He retained the homosexual gimmick he shared with Gunn and Palumbo, taking it to new levels, much in the vein of Adrian Street. His comedic antics in the ring garnered him much fan reaction and popularity before he was unexpectedly released by WWE on November 7, 2004.

After his release, Rico had a brief stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling, which included holding the All-Asian Tag Team Championship with Bull Buchanan. Following the conclusion of his tour with that group, he was reportedly not paid the full amount that he had negotiated with All-Japan's American liaison for appearing with the group.

Rico made a brief appearance at the 2005 reunion of the Cauliflower Alley Club (a non-profit fraternal organization for people involved in professional wrestling) in Las Vegas, and announced his retirement from pro wrestling. In May 2005, he announced that he would be returning to a career in law enforcement. In August of that year, he completed his law enforcement training in Boulder City, NV at the top of his class.