Dexter Lumis Tattoos Were Tribal Symbols Before He Blacked It Out
Dexter Lumis had tribal tattoos on his shoulders before he blacked them out. Lumis was often slammed by fans for his solid block inks on both arms.
Lumis is an American professional wrestler who is currently signed to WWE. He plays under the RAW brand of the franchise and has been with the WWE since 2019.
Before that, Lumis used to play in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The wrestler gained much fame in TNA, where he participated from 2010 to 2015.
He returned to the independent wrestling scene in 2015, eventually joining WWE in 2019. His actual name is Samuel Robert Shaw. He used to go by the names “Sam Shaw,” “Lupus,” and “Boss Hogg.”
Dexter Lumis in the TNA was known for his tribal tattoos. The fans slammed him, citing his piercings as “meaningless” then.
Dexter Lumis Tattoos Were Tribal Symbols Before He Blacked Them Out
Dexter Lumis inks were tribal symbols and the superman logo before he blacked both his arms out.
During his time in TNA Wrestling, Lumis’s inks were prominent for everyone to see. But they didn’t age well and he has covered both his arms with a solid ink band. His piercings could be seen in 2010, but they were no longer present in 2014.
Fans were unhappy with how he covered his arms four years after his tat. A post was created on Reddit dedicated to talking about his ink in 2010 versus now. His arms look like they had to be censored after looking at his solid half-sleeve ink.
“Kinda neat how he handled the douchey tribal tattoo later in life.”
“Remember he had to wear a turtleneck in TNA because they realized how stupid the tribals would look with his gimmick?”
One Reddit user’s body artist friends call it “piercer sleeve”. The term is reserved for piercers who get into the scene and choose a lot of random baseless designs early on to “fit in” that they regret. Since covering the whole thing is cheaper and easier than removal, most just add more ink to the point it is just a dark armband.
According to several media outlets, Lumis’s tat of the superman logo surrounded by tribal symbols was looked down upon as unoriginal. He had some religious designs, but the former TNA Wrestling star never discussed their meaning. He once said that they had no particular backstory and that he just liked them.
After Dexter covered the superman logo with Japanese symbols, some said he should have also blacked them out.
Lumis Ink Gives Him Identity
Dexter Lumis got body ink on tribal symbols to gain prominence and individuality in the wrestling world.
In his first introduction to impact wrestling, Lumis, also known as Sam Shaw, talked about his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. He also said that he wanted to stand out in the wrestling community, so he chose to get permanently inked.
Former WWE star Dwayne Johnson, “The Rock,” had a few Samoan inks printed on his body. But unlike him, Lumis didn’t have any story or history connected with his design.
Sam Shaw didn’t come from something like Samoan heritage, and he still had tattoos of tribal culture. The fans depicted it as “stupid” as he was using such a sensitive issue to gain prominence,
According to the wrestler, those designs on his arms made him unique from other wrestlers. It reflected the rarity in the wrestling community, which could be used as publicity. On the contrary, he gained negative publicity.
They constantly slammed him on social media, which led Lumis to add more ink to cover his body art than reversing the process of removing them.
