In the Grand Championship, Rico came up just short, losing to Craig Branham by 7 points (3 1/2 seconds) 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.

In 2001, started working dark matches for the WWF against Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Raven, Hurricane Helms, Billy Gunn and Steven Richards.

On the May 9 episode of SmackDown!, Rico wrestled his first match in WWE, where he teamed with Billy and Chuck to defeat Al Snow, Maven and Rikishi.

[7] On the September 12, 2002 episode of SmackDown!, Rico moved over to the Raw brand and became the manager of 3-Minute Warning (then-heel, Rosey and Jamal).

He retained the essence of the masculinity gimmick he shared with Gunn and Palumbo while taking it to new levels, much in the vein of Adrian Street and painting his face and later grew out his hair.

[1] After his release, he went to All-Japan Pro Wrestling, where he and former WWE colleague Bull Buchanan defeated Mitsuya Nagai and Masayuki Naruse on the first event of the "Excite Series" in Tokyo, Japan to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship.

[15] Costantino retired from professional wrestling in July 2005, causing him and Buchanan to vacate the All Asia Tag Team Titles.