Andrew Ravens
Brock Lesnar’s chest tattoo is one of the most recognizable images in professional wrestling and combat sports history. However, the story behind how it got there is far removed from the careful planning that typically goes into prominent body ink.
Speaking on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Lesnar revealed that he had no memory of getting the tattoo and only discovered it existed when he woke up the following morning. Lesnar explained that the tattoo came during a difficult stretch of his life.
By Lesnar’s own account, the night involved a half gallon of vodka and a few Vicodin before he wandered across the street and had the sword tattooed onto the center of his chest. Despite having no memory of the decision, he recalled the emotional reasoning behind it once the fog cleared. The symbolism, he said, reflected exactly where he was at that point in his life.
He was in Scottsdale, Arizona, training for the NFL when a motorcycle accident left him in a dark place mentally and physically. The combination of circumstances led to a night that ended with an unplanned visit to a tattoo shop.
“I got that tattoo, I was sh*t-faced drunk in Scottsdale, Ariz.,” Lesnar said. “I was in Scottsdale training for the NFL, had just gotten in a motorcycle accident, and I was just kicked down hard. Like, I was going through all that stuff, and there was a tattoo shop across the street from the biker bar — and that’s not a good place to have a tattoo shop. I got this tattoo, I didn’t even know I got the damn thing. I wake up the next day, and I’m like, ‘What in the — is this thing?'”
“The meaning behind it was, I felt like my back was against the wall, and somebody had a sword, a knife stuck to my throat like, ‘What are you gonna do now?'” Lesnar said. “So, I walked over there, I said, ‘Yeah, let’s put a big ass ugly sword on my chest.'”
