AEW’s Locker Room Night & Day From WWE’s According To Surprise Star
One former WWE star shocked fans with a recent AEW appearance and has now lifted the lid on why the company’s locker rooms are so different.
The MxM Collection promised a third man in their corner for their bout on the WrestleDream pre-show against The Acclaimed and they certainly delivered. Mansoor and Mason Madden unveiled Rico – the former manager of Billy & Chuck in WWE – to the shock of everyone.
Rico was famously instrumental in the angle that saw Billy and Chuck almost married on SmackDown before it became evident that Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff had interfered and 3 Minute Warning brought the whole thing to an end with a vicious attack.
Rico and Billy Gunn got to relive their past during the WrestleDream bout as a confrontation between the two saw Gunn nail the style guru with a Fame Asser as The Acclaimed picked up the win.
Rico Shares Appreciation For AEW Locker Room
Speaking on his Stylin’ podcast, Rico gave his thoughts on the differences he noted between the locker room in AEW and the one he was part of in WWE as the talent lined up to thank him for his career:
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.
WrestleDream saw Bryan Danielson’s full-time wrestling career come to an end as he was defeated in the night’s main event by Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship.
Incredibly Rico and Bryan Danielson have their own slice of history as they clashed on WWE Sunday Night Heat back in February 2003 with Rico picking up the win.