It’s a Hard Knox life for tattoo artist turned Limerick’s first professional wrestler

INSIDE the Upper Gerald Griffin Street tattoo parlour Hard Knox Tattoo, eyes of wrestling fans will quickly be drawn to an action figure of former WWE Universal Champion Finn Bálor.

Coated in his demonic warpaint, Bálor (real name Fergal Devitt) from Bray, County Wicklow shares close ties with Hard Knox Tattoo owner Steve Savage, who was trained by Devitt at his wrestling school in Bray, when he was a teenager.

After his first taste of professional wrestling, Savage returned to his studies at St Munchin’s College where he felt the pressure of his future weighing over him.

“My friends were all saying they wanted to be a rugby player or a carpenter, and I felt so lost I didn’t know who to voice this to,” Savage recalls.

The summer following fifth year, Savage’s mother urged him to find a job and start earning his own keep.  The Old Cork Road native says his mother’s hard-working ethos was an inspiration to pursue his twin passions of tattoos and wrestling.

“She goes to every show, I like to think she’s proud even though she still gives out over getting concussions and tattoos on my face,” he chuckles.

Savage found his first calling while lending a helping hand at a local tattoo studio where he also earned an apprenticeship.

After opening Hard Knox Tattoo in 2009, the Limerick man has enjoyed the creative aspects of his work -  however, the die-hard wrestling fan still found his work-life unfulfilling.

“I just felt like I could do more for myself, I was on a bad road, a lot of guys in their twenties get stuck in this rut too, and it’s just a bad road to be on,” Savage adds.

Savage hopped off the road and took a new route down south to Cork where he discovered the Phoenix Wrestling school in his late 20s. Balancing the organised chaos of operating his studio and rekindling his wrestling career was an arduous process for the Limerick man, however.

But with his co-tattooist Shaun working tirelessly at the studio and fellow wrestlers Marion Armstrong and Raven Creed guiding Savage back into the ring, the tattooist now lives a hectic life, albeit one worth living.

“I was nervous about joining a gym; I’d run and cycle on the roads on my own,” Steve says.

“But once I understood that I was in an environment where people want to better themselves, then there’s no negativity, all that negativity was coming from within me,” Savage reflects.

While the outcomes of most wrestling matches are planned, the reality is that wrestlers still sacrifice their health to entertain the audience. Kneading his right knee, the wrestler sighs: “Injuries happen, it’s just part of this game.”

Savage suffered an ACL tear after trying to build up strength for his knee that underwent surgery for a meniscus tear. While the tattooist’s injury may be keeping him out of the ring and also be an inconvenience for his day job, for the wrestler, his injury is used as a tool to develop the character.

Savage’s knee was used to elevate his grudge feud with rising star LJ Cleary and his two cronies of the ‘More Than Hype’ faction after the trio “assaulted” the Limerick man by smashing his knee with a steel chair.

Talking about the assault, Savage morphs from friendly local tattooist to bloodthirsty wrestler. 

“What he’s doing outside of Munster, outside of Ireland is amazing, but that is exactly why I have a grudge against him.

“I see him being booked in the UK, Germany, Spain all over Europe; meanwhile I’m stuck here, LJ Cleary has given Steve Savage hard times,” he adds mournfully.

Savage may not be medically cleared to wrestle for this weekend’s event in Dolan’s Warehouse, but, fear not, anything can happen in the unpredictable world of the ‘violent pantomime’.

“I know Cleary and his boys are on the show and if you think Steve Savage is going to miss a show in Limerick, there is no way in hell that will happen,” Shannonside’s sole professional wrestler vows defiantly.

The stars of Phoenix Wrestling return to Dolan’s Warehouse on Saturday, November 24, for the ‘Is It Politically Correct to Shout Suck It’ show at 8pm, tickets are available on Eventbrite.ie or www.dolans.ie.