Now getting inked is sexy and fashionable and they've been around in everyday life for a couple of decades, everyone from Grandmothers to their grandkids have them.
Having tattoos now is somewhat of a trophy to show you've endured full sleeve work and have the wallet to do so. Also it seems that more and more of the lady folk are impressed and into guys with a splash of ink.
Wrestling is no different. Tattoos can be found all over any roster from the shocking jesters (See Anderson) to some of the most elaborate sleeves and back pieces. Here is a quick list of 10 of the best and few honourable mentions. So if you like wrestling or tattoos take a scroll.
10
Rey Mysterio Jr
Rey has many tattoo all over his body with lots of meaning, his childrens names of his biceps, his hometown dial code and finisher on his forearms and Mexican across his stomach. However you can't look at Mysterio without noticing his spine on his....spine.
"Eighty percent of the falls we take are on our backs" Rey explains. "I thought it would be cool to design a tattoo on my spine showing how each vertebra should be aligned. Something I found cool is that when they filled it out on me, they said everything is pretty much as it should be. So it's all pretty much in place."
9
Batista
Another back piece here, from a former tag team partner of Mysterio, Dave Batista. The Animal has bucket loads of ink skin deep including a sun around his belly button. Yeah, this monster has a girlie-popstar-sun around his belly button.
But its the awesome chinese dragon on his back I'm talking about. The intimidating mythical serpent covers most of his back, which is no small area to cover. This is beast of a tattoo for a beast of a man and unfortunately since leaving WWE he has his full back covered in what looks like a huge inferno scene. It's unfortunate because now he's not on TV wrestling we don't get to see how epic it truly is.
8
Lita
The teenage dream Lita was a hot fixture since debuting as a fiery redhead, arm piece of cruiserweight Essa Rios during the Attitude Era. Litas got her own arm piece that gets her on this list.
This three eyed demon on her right shoulder is a souvenir she got for a European trip in Amsterdam before her career kicked off. It was done as a cover up on a old piece of tribal and doesn't hold too much meaning other than a souvenir. She states in her book, A Less Traveled R.O.A.D that she has no obsession over three eyed demons but finds it cool to have tattoos.
Along with the siren hair, low riding baggy jeans and pulled up thongs, the tattoo made her so desirable to many a teenage boy through the attitude era.
7
Bam Bam Bigelow
Bam Bam Bigelow destroyed men in ECW, WCW as well as WWE and was a headliner in all three. He was instantly recognisable and unforgettable for a few reasons, he was 400 pound, 6'4", a solid bruiser and yet could spinning heel kick, enziguri and moonsault the Mary Poppins out of you.
The biggest reason you wouldn't forget him could've been he looked like a bat-shiz crazy nutcase with his head inked in flames! Nothing says "I will beat the piss out of you and your grandma" like a full head inferno tattoo.
Not necessarily one of the most beautiful or desirable tattoos I've seen in wrestling but definitely one of the most striking and intimidating. It no doubt added to his character in a huge way, he couldn't take it off when he left the arena so you knew the guy behind the matching onesie had to be a tough s.o.b outside the ring too.
6
Goldberg
Goldberg was a WCW icon and arguably the companies biggest face during the late 90's. His tribal tattoo on his left shoulder is definitely a brand logo for himself. As a wrestling fan, you see that tattoo or something similar and Goldberg is the man you think of, even though wrestling is just as full of tribal tattoos as it is baby oil.
For the 90's tribal was the trend for the booming tattoo industry and some even went as far as to get the a Goldberg copy. Here's Wade Barrett sporting his copy with some added extra that has been mixed into a cover up now.
5
Randy Orton
When Randy debuted on WWE TV in 2002 he was already sporting a few pieces of tribal across his arms and back which all gradually grew through his rookie years. Then in 2008 Orton was in a motorbike accident which left him injured and out of the ring, during this time he spent somewhere between 40-50 getting full sleeve work. It helped camouflage his meaningless and generic tribal work on his arms and gave him a sick new image.
Orton says there's a lot of meaning though his tattoos now. Including his daughters name alongside a rose and verse of inspiration amongst other things.
With footballers, pop stars & musicians and actors getting full sleeves as some sort fashion trend, Randy Orton is one of the reasons you could get your girlfriend into wrestling!
4
Edge
In 2005 Edge was now worlds away from his tag team days and was making leaps and bounds into mainevent land. Late into the year Edge dubbed himself the "Rated 'R' Superstar" who was all about sex and violence. Giving himself a personality tweak and changing up his look, including all new tattoos.
The piece we're looking at is the piece that represents that chapter of his career. The big black star is the representation of his Rated R transformation and his first WWE championship. Smaller stars were added to the work to show for further world title wins.
3
Brock Lesnar
The Next Big Thing burst onto our screens on the post Raw to Wrestlemania X8 and left fans in awe. He was a.... and still is... a complete inhuman monster. As Paul Heyman would now say, The Beast Incarnate.
With his freakish size and video game build, he doesn't need to much more to make his image more striking but he one massive dragons skull is a piece that is as intimidating as he is.
Much like many other iconic ink work adorned by wrestlers, Brock's has become a trademark of image. The demonic skull has been used on all kinds of WWE Brock Lesnar merchandise and is one of the many impressive focal points of his.
2
CM Punk
CM Punk is one of the biggest names in WWE right now. On the surface Punk may not be the first choice to be a poster boy during its PG era, he looks rough around the edges to say the least. Long time followers and fans of The Best In The World will have seen his arms fill out into colourful sleeves that now meet across his chest. The sleeves include two shoulder centerpieces of the Pepsi logo and Cobra from G.I Joe both of which have been adapted for games and promotional prints, such as the picture below.
Chicago Made Punk's arms are made up of lots of meaningful tattoos including his dog's paw print, a 'Luck is for Losers' horse shoe and a portrait rumoured to be of himself and current partner Lita.
1
The Rock
Not only the best tattoo in wrestling but possibly one of the best tattoos I have ever seen. When The Rock returned after a brief sabbatical in 2003 to antagonise Hulk Hogan he was sporting the starting phase of this epic piece. At the time I wasn't sure where or what this type of design had come from, but knew I loved it.
By the time he briefly reconnected The Rock 'n' Sock Connection for Wrestlemania XX he had it fully extended onto his pec and all around his shoulder.
It has become such a impressive, intriguing, powerful and beautiful slab of ink. One colour and no shading yet I never get bored of looking at it. When you take into consideration that the whole piece is a story of his life and heritage and almost every element is a symbol that tells the story, it becomes a whole heap more impressive. There are symbols of family, love, protection, health, strength and success that build his personal and ancestors story.
No comments:
Post a Comment