Like many of his peers in the WWE, former professional wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista is covered quite extensively in tattoos. But even someone as heavily inked as Bautista has his regrets, as the 55-year-old confessed to his embarrassing first tattoo this week.
Bautista was making an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark to promote his upcoming Prime Video movie My Spy: The Eternal City, streaming on Thursday, July 18, when host Kelly Ripa asked if he had ever gotten any tattoos removed.
"I’ve thought about it, and then I’ve just gotten cover-ups instead. It’s a real like nightmare to get tattoos removed," he explained. "They burn them off."
But he didn't need to tell that to Ripa, who said that she has had the procedure done herself: "Yeah, I've got the guy."
When Ripa's husband and co-host Mark Consuelos chimed in to say that he had his first tattoo covered up because he didn't like it, Bautista admitted: "Yeah, my first one was also covered up."
"Oh man, I'm instantly sweating," he said, when asked to elaborate. "I will preface this by saying it was the '80s and it was my first tattoo ... I lived in D.C., I was in Arlington, Virginia. I went to this place called Rick’s Tattoo. And it was this old biker named Rick, and I picked out the tattoo and told him I wanted it on my butt. And I wanted it on my butt so my dad wouldn’t see it and kill me. So I got it on my butt."
Bautista said that "this big biker" then shaved his derrière and asked him if he really wanted it on his butt. "I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he put it on—and, I’m so embarrassed—it was this really cheesy heart that said, ‘Heart of Stone.’ I thought I was a tough guy with a tough tattoo. And I regretted it immediately. But I got razzed so bad in the WWE for that tattoo."
When asked what he covered it up with, Bautista said that he had already had a cherry blossom tree on his back and had told his tattoo artist to just continue down with the roots. "I was like, ‘Just cover it up. I don’t care. Just cover it up,'" he added.
In addition to his cherry blossom tree, some of Bautista's other extensive work includes a large dragon on his back, red kanji lettering on his upper left bicep which says "Angel" (in tribute to his second wife, Angie Bautista), the phrase "DC soldier" on his right bicep, a small sun on his abdomen that encircles his navel, flags of Greece and the Philippines, as well as both upper arms covered in large tribal tattoos.
But as they say, you never forget your first, as cringeworthy as the case may be.
