Luke Gallows’s sleeves move between large images and smaller details. A screaming skull fills his left shoulder, waves and a dragon run down that arm, and the right side has a winged figure above smaller skulls. The style is dark and horror-leaning, but the designs use different shapes across the two arms.
Gallows also has a tattoo honoring the original Club members, a tribute he discussed on Superstar Ink. The article looks at five designs from his sleeves before turning to that story.
The screaming skull on his left shoulder
A large skull covers much of Gallows’s left shoulder, its open mouth stretching down toward the elbow. Uneven teeth break up the dark mouth, and the outline follows the curve of his shoulder before pulling down the outside of the arm.
The mouth is the first detail you notice, even when his arm hangs at his side in a match photo. Gallows hasn’t given a specific meaning for this skull; its shape and rough, exaggerated expression are clear without assigning one.
The wave tattoos around his left elbow
Below the skull, curling waves run toward Gallows’s left elbow. Their rounded crests can resemble flames in a quick shot, but the shapes roll back in broad curves. Smaller skull-like faces sit among the waves, linking them to the shoulder piece above.
An elbow pad can cover the lowest part of the design. What remains visible is a band of wide curves between the shoulder and forearm, distinct from the finer marks elsewhere in the sleeve.
The dragon on his left forearm
A narrow dragon winds along Gallows’s left forearm. Small marks suggest scales along its curved body, which follows the length of the arm instead of filling it with one broad shape. His glove hides part of the wrist in the photo, so the full lower edge isn’t visible.
The dragon is more finely worked than the waves above it. Gallows’s time wrestling in Japan doesn’t by itself explain why he chose the design; its winding outline and scaled texture are what the photo shows.
The winged creature on his right shoulder
On Gallows’s right shoulder, long pointed feathers fan upward in overlapping layers. In the photo with Karl Anderson, the shoulder is exposed enough to show the irregular feather tips. The image doesn’t make the creature’s body clear, so the wings are the surest way to describe it.
A singlet strap can cover the inside edge, while the outer shoulder remains visible. The broad fan of feathers gives this side a different outline from the screaming skull on his left.
The skulls on his right forearm
Several rounded skulls sit across Gallows’s right forearm, with dark eye sockets and smaller lines filling the gaps between them. Some are visible just above his glove; others continue toward the elbow. In the action photo, his bent arm turns part of the wrap away from the camera.
The repeated faces echo the large skull on his other arm, though they occupy a smaller, busier area. Their individual meaning hasn’t been explained by Gallows.
A permanent reminder of the Club
Gallows explained one tattoo on his arm during a 2017 episode of Superstar Ink: it honors core members of the original Club. Corey Graves visited him at Painted Gypsy Tattoo in Conyers, Georgia, while he got the piece.
His partnership with Karl Anderson began in Japan and continued in WWE. They later teamed with AJ Styles as The O.C. The video below shows Gallows discussing his tattoos and getting the tribute.