Former WWE star Rico Constantino started professional wrestling at 38 years old — and from his first day in WWE, Vince McMahon made clear he wasn’t sold on the idea.
In a wide-ranging conversation on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Rico opened up about the cold reception he received from McMahon throughout his entire WWE tenure, the gimmick he was handed with zero direction, and the raise request that ended it all.
“Vince didn’t like me because of my age in the beginning. He was forced to put me there,” Rico said. “He hardly said any words to me the whole time I was there. Just hello, Mr. McMahon. Good night, Mr. McMahon. And no response. I got that.”
The skepticism started even before WWE. When Rico attended a tryout run by Dory Funk, Jim Cornette discovered his age mid-camp.
“Jim Cornette comes out and he’s all red-faced,” Rico recalled. “‘I just heard you were 38 years old.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I thought you were 25.’ He stormed off.”
According to Rico, Dr. Tom Prichard read the room immediately: “He says, ‘He’s probably going to sign you.’ And that’s what happened.”
Cornette ran a similarly no-nonsense ship at OVW, where Rico trained alongside future stars.
“Could you tell he was going to be something?” Rico said of Brock Lesnar. “Oh, yeah. He picked up on things so fast. So did Shelton.”
Despite the age concerns, WWE called Rico up and assigned him to the Billy and Chuck tag team as their flamboyant stylist — with almost no guidance.
“I meet with Vince and he goes, ‘You’re going to be Billy and Chuck’s stylist.’ I said, ‘Okay, hair stylist, foot stylist? What kind of stylist?’ He goes, ‘Flesh it out.’ And he turned around and walked away on me. And it was that night.”
Rico credits that sink-or-swim moment for forcing him to build something memorable. He sought out Adrian Street for permission to use a flamboyant character, called Kenny Bolin for advice, and adopted the now-iconic Wolverine sideburns.
“Think maybe hoping I fail,” Rico said of McMahon’s motives. “Well, I turned it around.”
Even after holding the tag titles twice and appearing on nearly every show, McMahon’s assessment of Rico never changed. When Rico approached him asking for a $1,000-a-week raise — a $52,000 annual increase on top of his base — McMahon’s answer was blunt. “He told me I wasn’t popular.”
Rico didn’t dispute the decision, but the moment stung.
“I held the tag titles twice. I was going to almost every show and on TV. I said, ‘I want $1,000 a week.’ I thought I was worth it.”
No, I wanted a $52,000 raise on top of the $75k. I thought I was worth it, and Charlie and I and Jackie were about to come out on the SmackDown magazine front cover, and he told me I wasn’t popular.”
He has carried the lesson with him ever since.
“What your mind can conceive, your heart can achieve,” Rico said. “Age is just a number, and it’s how bad you want it.”