2-Time WWE Champion Confirms Retirement At 64
This former WWE Champion has now confirmed his retirement.
Rico (Real name: Rico Constantino) was popular in the Ruthless Aggression Era in WWE for his work with the faction 3-Minute Warning along with Rosie and Jamal.
Rico had a short stint in the Stamford-based company between 2002 and 2004. He later competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 2005 and, much later, joined AEW (All Elite Wrestling) in 2024.
Rico began wrestling relatively late in his late-30s and went on to make a name for himself in WWE.
The former WWE and World Tag Team Champion was also a contestant on the television series American Gladiators. Rico was the champion for the first half of the 1990–1991 season of the series. He lost to Craig Branham by 7 points, which was 3.5 seconds in the Grand Championship in the Eliminator portion of the show. Costantino next appeared on the European game show Fort Boyard, with a win over his former Gladiator nemesis Craig Branham.
He recently appeared on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast and talked about his career and the various jobs he did before pursuing pro-wrestling.
Former WWE Star Rico Confirms His Retirement At Age 64
Rico, with the physical issues he has faced as a professional wrestler, has officially retired from in-ring action. He told Van Vliet that he has blockages in the heart, which, until cleared, will keep him from doing in-ring work.
He alludes to a special appearance, only if someone were willing to call him back.
Van Vliet: Do you consider yourself retired? I don’t just mean from the ring. Are you retired now?
Rico: Well, right now, as I’m going through the blood clots and the blockage right now, I am retired, but if they can clear the blockage, either with a stent or remove it, and these go away, I’ll return to part-time work. I’ll go and work again. Maybe, you know, if somebody wants me to make a special appearance, I’ll get right back into ring shape.
When asked if he would wrestle another match, Rico said he is ok to go for tag team action and isn’t quite ready for singles action.
Van Vliet: Would you wrestle another match?
Rico: I would. As soon as I get into ring shape, I would, and it won’t take me long. I’d love to in one of the bigger promotions and stuff like that. I’d love to do a tag match. Not ready to do singles yet. I would love a tag match.