Marvel actor and former WWE star Dave ‘Batista’ Bautista has opened up his very own tattoo shop called DC Society Ink in Tampa, Florida.
The name of Batista’s shop is a play on his personal mantra “Dream Chaser” and the fact he’s from the Washington D.C. area. The shop is located at 1108 West Kennedy Blvd, near the University of Tampa campus.
His partner in the shop is his personal tattoo artist John Kural, who has been tattooing in the Tampa Bay area for more than 25 years. Kural has been Bautista’s personal tattoo artist since 2006 and said he was “honored” to have been asked to join him in the shop.
“This is a personal investment. It’s not going to be making me big money, I know that,” Bautista said. “But I have an investment in this because this is my community and this is what I love. These are my people.”
“This is completely personal for me. I don’t need this, my career is doing great, but this is like a clubhouse for me,” Bautista told Tampa Bay Times. “I wanted to create an environment for people who want to get a tattoo but they don’t want to go into one of those tattoo parlors. It’s intimidating and scary and your average person is uncomfortable in that environment.”
The shop currently has a roster of nine tattoo artists, who are taking appointments via tattooshoptampafl.com.
