Former WWE Tag Team Champion Rico Constantino has opened up about the conversation he says directly led to his WWE departure in 2004, revealing that a request for a pay raise ultimately resulted in his release from the company.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Constantino detailed the meeting he had with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon after completing his original three-year rookie contract. According to Constantino, he believed his accomplishments and television presence justified a salary increase, but says McMahon responded by telling him he was “not popular.”
Constantino’s WWE main roster tenure began in 2002 and effectively ended in late 2004, although he remained under contract through the standard 90-day period before officially being released in February 2005.
“I wasn’t going on any shows. My final release was 90 days later, so I was under contract until February 2005.”
He then explained why he approached McMahon about renegotiating his deal.
“I went and asked Vince for a raise because I had already been under fulfilled my three year rookie contract. I’ve held the tag titles twice, once with Akishi, once with Toss, you know, and I was going to almost every show, and on TV, you know, I said I want $1,000 a week. Yeah, I thought I was worth it. And I was about to come out, Charlie and I and Jackie wrote to come out on the SmackDown magazine front cover, and he told me I wasn’t popular.”
Constantino clarified that his downside guarantee at the time was $75,000 annually, excluding additional income streams.
“75,000 a year. Not including royalties, pay-per-views, and video games.”
The requested $1,000-per-week increase would have added roughly $52,000 annually to that guarantee. Instead, Constantino says he was informed he would be released.
The former WWE star also reflected on his relationship with McMahon and claimed that his age played a role in how he was perceived internally.
“Vince didn’t like me because of my age in the beginning. He was forced to put me there. Just hello, Mr. McMahon, good night, Mr. McMahon. I got that. And like I said, it was my age, he thought I was too old to start wrestling, but you know, it’s not the quantity, it’s quality. I had a lot of life experiences, you know, that I could help with, and I had ideas that I gave to the writers, of course. They were shot down and stuff, you know.”
Constantino also revealed an unreleased storyline pitch involving Chavo Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero that he hoped would help evolve his on-screen character. The angle would have centered around his signature sideburns being shaved off during an attack, eventually leading to a full character transformation.
“I wanted to get rid of the cyburns, you know, and make it a whole new character, and I thought of an angle with Chavo Guerrero and Papa Guerrero that they, you know, they want the belts, because Charlie and I held them, and they jumped me in the bathroom, beat me up, and then shave one of my sideburns off, and then Charlie finds me, you know, he’s supposed to be the homophobic, you know, he finds me, and I’m, oh man, he’s like okay, and he hesitates, but then he comforts me, and he goes, we’ll go out, make this right, so we go out and have the match, we maintain the titles, and then I voluntarily shave off the other side, burn, and now I got all the makeup without facial hair, and shot down.”
During his WWE run, Constantino captured the WWE Tag Team Championship twice in 2004 with two different partners — first alongside Rikishi and later with Charlie Haas. His title victories came at No Mercy 2002 and Judgment Day 2004 respectively, with the latter reign beginning after Haas and Constantino defeated Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty.
Following his WWE departure, Constantino remained active in the wrestling world through independent appearances, conventions, podcasting, and even resurfaced earlier this year in an All Elite Wrestling segment involving Billy Gunn.
