Ink Master: Grudge Match (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 11 - Old Dogs, Old Tricks - full transcript

announcer: In 12 jaw-dropping
seasons of "Ink Master,"

we've witnessed
amazing artistry,

insane rivalries...

- Mother[bleep]!

announcer:
And wild personalities.

- Any [bleep] camera
follows me, I swear to God,

I don't even give a [bleep],

I will break
that mother[bleep]!

announcer: Now, three iconic
"Ink Master" champions,

Ryan Ashley...
[cheers and applause]

DJ Tambe...



[cheers and applause]

And Cleen Rock One...
[cheers and applause]

Have risen to judge status,
deciding grudges between

some of the competition's
most furious rivals.

- You gonna hash it out
like grown men,

or are you gonna
get in my face again?

- Let's tattoo!

announcer: These foes
will have

the opportunity

to settle the score,
once and for all.

- I can be in your face.
- I can be in your face too.

- Guys, guys, guys, guys.
- I can do it all day.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

I don't think
that grudge is over.



I think it just got worse.

[dramatic music]

announcer: Tonight,
two epic feuds

will come to a head.

It's hungry up-and-comers

versus game-playing veterans.

The grudges
will be settled now.

announcer: In our first
grudge match,

season 12's Tito Zambrano

was stabbed in the back
and put up for elimination

by his own teammate, Big Jaz.

- You betrayed me, man.
- Grow up.

There's no crying in tattooing.

announcer: Now
he wants revenge.

- You being sensitive
is not my problem.

- It's gonna be your problem
when I beat you today.

- Today, we got Tito
and Big Jaz.

- There's some backstabbing
going on.

- There is definitely
some backstabbing.

You come into this competition,

and you think
you're gonna be on your own,

but things change
when you're in a team,

or if you have to do
collaborations

with other artists
that are competing.

- It kind of turns into
every man for themselves,

and the whole survival instinct
kicks in.

- In the end, you know,

being friends
is out the window.

- I'm upset
that you sent me down.

I mean, you was the one
that had to call out my name.

I had never saw that coming.

I think I did more work
than you did.

- You think?
No, you did not.

- It was my design.
- You looked very timid.

You looked very scared.

- I'm not scared.

- I'm just going by what I saw

and what I thought.

I had to choose,
I had to choose you.

I have no feelings.
It's a game.

- I think that was bullshit.

- I can see why
the dude's pissed.

- You're gonna have to do
some kind of backstabbing,

because ultimately,
there's one winner.

- You don't have to, though.
Do you have to?

- In here, sometimes,
you gotta play the game.

- But what's the aftermath
of that?

- I mean,
we're seeing it today.

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

- Want to draw with us?
- Sure.

- I'm gonna draw a number,

and you have to come up
with something.

What'd you get?

Oh my God, you're a killer.

A butterfly, huh?

Big Jaz, he's a big deal to me.

This guy got 25-plus years
of tattooing.

He was a person
that I looked up to,

and for him to send me down
to the bottom,

that's hurtful,
so I'm coming for revenge.

It's very important to me
to win this match,

because I'm doing this
for my family,

for a lot of people
that I let down.

I am not a loser,
and I'm here to win.

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

- Ooh, burger time.

- This is a good old
Brooklyn thin patty burger,

corner store burgers.

Bodega burgers.

Ha, come on, now, boom.

I sent Tito down

just so we could see
what he's made of.

But it ended up backfiring,

'cause he did
a damn good tattoo,

and guess what,
he stayed longer than I did.

[laughs]

I can see why Tito
is pissed at me.

I had to do what I had to do
for the team.

♪ So sorry, baby ♪

It's like I never left.

- There he is.
- There's Big Jaz.

- Listen, he looks big
and tough, but he is so sweet.

- This is where the party is.
All right.

- Well, hopefully hugs
instead of bugs, right?

- He gives the best hugs.

- My name up in lights.

Big Jaz.

- There's Tito.
- There he is.

Damn, he looks pissed.
Look at him.

- Lookee who's here.

Have you betrayed anybody here?

- Hope you're ready for this,
my friend.

- You can believe in me.
- He looks tiny.

- He's like, uh, I gotta go
pay my parking meter.

- You betrayed me, man.

- It's not betrayal.
I didn't know you.

It was business.

- We was a team.

- Well, you showed us
that you were afraid.

- I worked as a teammate,
I work on the design.

I tattoo, and y'all didn't--

- Sounds like a lot of I's.

- There is no I in team,
and I can't spell,

and I know that is true.

- You should've stood up
for me.

- What am I, your father?
- We was teammates, dude.

- Come on, grow up.

- You know
what's the matter with me?

- This is tattooing!

There's no crying in tattooing.

- Let's go figure out
what's going on.

- Let's get in there
and figure this out,

because I want to get
to the bottom of this.

- I hope you ready.

I'm gonna squash you
like a little bug.

- [laughs]
Hold up, hold up, hold up.

- Hey, you two.
- What's going on?

- A lot of sensitivity,
that's what's going on.

- You betrayed me.
- Grow a pair of balls.

- It's like a soap opera.

- Old lion versus young lion.

- Oh, bring it on.
- Oh, it's already brought.

- I hear a lot of this,
so I want to see it.

- Let's do it.

- We're gonna level
the playing field right now.

We're gonna give you guys
a 90-minute face-off tattoo

where we choose
what you guys get to do.

- 90 minutes.

- You're kind of slow, man,
so I don't know.

- Okay.
- Shit.

Whoever wins today's tattoo
gets to choose either the style

or the subject of tomorrow's
six-hour grudge match tattoo.

- Done, got this.
- Yep.

- The winner of that six-hour
grudge match tattoo

squashes everything, ends it.

- I'm gonna show you.
- Yeah, whatever.

Let's just get to work.
- All right, guys.

What should we give them
to tattoo?

- He's calling him a snake,
so I mean, some snakes?

- Let's do it.
- Or I mean...

that's one of my favorite
subject matters, I love it.

- All right, snake it is.
- All right.

For this 90-minute
face-off tattoo,

we're giving you guys snakes,
any style.

- Let's do it.

- You guys should be drawing
right now, man.

- Yeah, why are you
still standing here?

Get going.

- Good luck.
- I'm excited.

- Me too.
- I love snakes.

- I think it fits perfect,
the snake.

- Oh, yeah?

Yeah, a little baby snake,
like you,

getting all personal,
all sensitive.

Sensitive snakes?

- Whatever, dude.

- You being sensitive
is not my problem.

- It's gonna be your problem
when I beat you today.

- Oh, if you think so.
- Oh, I'm gonna.

[dramatic music]

announcer:
In our second grudge,

season seven's
Ashley Velazquez

felt St. Marq's ego
was unsubstantiated.

- Hey, yo, loudmouth.

That station doesn't look big
enough for that ego of yours.

- You're getting ready
to be baptized by fire today.

announcer: Now she's back

to put the self-proclaimed
Tattoo God in his place.

- We all know
who's winning the grudge match.

This was the school
of St. Marq right here.

- I'm gonna take your ass down.

- St. Marq and Ashley.

Both of these guys
were on season seven with me.

I can tell you right now,

we're about to see
some fireworks.

Ashley, she is not
gonna let anybody

talk any kind of shit to her,

and St. Marq,
he has a little ego.

- He's a god, right?
Tattoo God?

- He's a tattoo god.

He came into the house,
you know, banging on his chest,

called a challenge,
and then he flopped

and got sent to the bottom
on his own challenge.

I mean, you kind of need to
humble yourself a little bit.

- St. Marq, what's the first
elimination tattoo?

- Black-and-gray.

We will be using
our shaders only.

- St. Marq, why does
your tattoo look like

a little boy with an umbrella
on top of his head?

My tattoo's better
than these two guys.

That shit's readable
from all the way over here.

- If we're judging based on
who's equipped to move forward,

I don't think I should
be going home today.

- I feel like these two artists
have a lot to prove

to one another,

in terms of ego,
in terms of work.

- These two do not
like each other.

It is like probably no other
grudge we'll see.

- Spitfires, man.
- Yes.

- My grudge is with
the big-headed,

loudmouth St. Marq.

So you guys know we just won
best shop in New Haven.

- Whoo!

- I'm a person
who's confident, not cocky,

and that's what drives me crazy
about him.

He's overly cocky.

- We're gonna go turn up,
party, I think.

- Go get lit.
- Except there's work tomorrow.

You gotta bring your ass
to work,

so you can't get
a little bit too crazy.

- Gotcha, boss.

- If I can own my own shop
and make sure

everything's running smooth
on a day-to-day basis,

taking care of old-ass St. Marq
isn't gonna be a problem.

♪ ♪

- It's looking great.

- It's coming along.

- On season seven,
I think Ashley thought

she saw a moment of weakness.

I failed my own challenge,

but I was just visiting
the bottom.

She [bleep] lived there.

Well, this is a great tattoo.

It definitely has
the Tattoo God's blessing.

You've been blessed.

Ashley is no competition
for the Tattoo God.

Whoo!

Feels like church
up in this mother[bleep].

- Oh, look who's levitating in
now, the Tattoo God.

- Tattoo God bless America.

- What?

- God bless America.
I told you.

- What exactly makes him
a tattoo god?

Where is that coming from?

- His brain makes him
a tattoo god.

- You can't deem yourself
a god.

- Hey, yo, loudmouth?
- [laughs]

- I don't know, man,
this station

doesn't look big enough
for that ego of yours.

- Oh, shit!

- So, what kind of grudge,
what kind of grudge do you got?

What possibly could you have
with me?

What possible?

- You're a little bit
too cocky.

You came in,
you called the shots,

you shot yourself in the foot.

- And I came out
smelling like a rose.

You took a shot, but--
- You were sweating, Marq.

You were sweating,

'cause you know
you almost went home.

- Guys, I don't know
if we should make them tattoo

or just let them
do this all day.

- Let's give them gloves.

- I can tell
you're a little scared,

but I'd do something
about the shaking 'cause you--

it's not gonna help you,
shaking today.

- Who's shaking?
I came right up to you.

I came right up to you.
I'm not shaking.

- You're getting ready
to be baptized by fire.

- By what?
- It's gonna be a bad day.

- Let's get this started.

I mean, I heard enough.
Let's do this.

- Let's take this to church.

- I want to hear more.
- Come on.

- I think it's actually time
for you to retire.

You already said you've been
tattooing longer than me,

like you said,
you've been doing this longer

than I've been in diapers.

- All right, all right,
all right, all right.

- Oh, man.
Here we go. Here we go.

- Let's zip 'em up.

Time to show off
with your hands,

not your mouths.

- Whoo, it's tense in here.
What's going on?

- Well, apparently,
we've got a grudge.

You know, I didn't start it,
but I'm gonna finish it.

- You feel big and bad enough

that you're calling yourself
the Tattoo God, well,

maybe somebody needs to come
and step up against you.

- If you think you want
to knock me off the block,

well, then you get your shot.

- That's what I'm here to do.

- Girl, I love
that you're a spitfire.

- Yeah.

- I love that you don't want
anybody to walk all over you.

- And you have to be,
to deal with this guy.

I mean, if you were a softie,

it'd be that much harder
to battle him.

- I think you better hope
that there's--

they have some sort of,
like, mercy rule,

'cause this is gonna get called
on grounds of humiliation.

- All right, we'll see.

- So here's how
we're gonna settle the score.

We're going to give you
a 90-minute face-off tattoo

where we get to pick what you
guys are gonna be tattooing.

- Awesome.

- The winner of that
90-minute face-off tattoo

is gonna get a huge advantage.

You get to pick the style
or subject

in tomorrow's six-hour
grudge match tattoo.

- Are you ready?

- The winner of that grudge
match ends it all.

- I am pumped.

- So, what should
we have them do?

- They're both
black-and-gray artists.

- Yeah, I'd say
you guys both specialize

in black and gray.

- We gotta switch that up,
obviously.

- So...
- Get crazy.

- Let's flip it on them.

- Let's just do color tattoos,
whatever they want.

- Ooh, I like that.
- Whatever they want.

- Let's do it.
- I am so ready.

So ready to roll.

- 90 minutes ain't shit,
so get your asses moving.

- Yeah, get moving.
- Good luck, guys.

- Float on out of here.

- Have you seen any
of St. Marq's color?

- Yeah.
- Do you do a lot of color?

- I do.
- Oh, you do?

- I don't really keep up
with your work.

What is it that you do?

- You're gonna see.

Don't act like
you don't remember.

It wasn't that long ago.
I know you're a little old.

- I can smell fear.
- Okay, let's see.

What's gonna take
your ass down?

- All right, Big Jaz, Tito,

you guys got 90 minutes
to do a snake tattoo.

Don't get rattled,
but your time starts now.

- Let's do it, man.

- All right, the moment
of truth has arrived.

- Cool.

- Do you have any last words?

- Do a good job. [laughs]
- Yes.

I'm doing a black-and-gray
traditional cobra head,

because I'm coming
for Tito's head.

I want this tattoo
to look mean, just mean.

Mean!

- I thought that would be
really tiny for 90 minutes.

- This is pretty tiny, though.

- For you, maybe.
- Yeah.

I come from
a street shop background.

I do a lot
of 90-minute tattoos.

I do 30-minute tattoos.
I'm fast.

I'm easy like Sunday morning.

Tito's gonna struggle
with this,

because A, he's slow.

♪ ♪

B, he's slow.

♪ ♪

C, very slow.

[bass drops]

- Ready?
- I'm ready, you ready?

- Let's do it.

I'm doing a full-body snake
with the head cut off.

I hope when Big Jaz
seen my tattoo,

he gets the message.

[blade resounds]

- How we looking?

- We're looking good.

Yeah, I'm planning on spending
more time on the line work

than actually shading.

The line work
is the main thing to me.

- Cool.

- Making a snake
with all the scales,

that's gonna take a long time,

so I'm doing the spots
on the snake

to create the visual effect
that that's the scales.

I got done
with the head already,

working on the body now.

The technique that I use
is something that I know

that I can get it done.

- All right, guys,
60 minutes left

to slither your way
through this tattoo.

- ♪ Less than an hour ♪

- Big old traditional piece,
huh?

- Cobra.

- Is this your go-to?

- Oh, yeah, of course.

When in doubt,
traditional it out.

- Especially in 90 minutes,
right?

- Exactly.

- Oh, so you went
full body, huh?

- That's right.

I'm going black-and-gray
with this.

- Time-wise, how you think
you're gonna do?

- I got this.
Yeah, I got it.

- Tito's trying to do
a full-body snake

with the head chopped off.

In 90 minutes, that's insane.

- I think they like it.
- Yeah.

- I don't know if he's even
gonna have time

to finish outlining this thing
in 90 minutes.

Hopefully, this full-body
snake doesn't come back

to bite Tito in the ass.

- Time to battle.
Ashley, you ready?

- I'm ready.

- St. Marq, we know
you're ready, bro.

- Ready.
- You're always ready.

All right, guys.

Your 90-minute face-off tattoo

starts... now!

♪ ♪

- Perfect.

- I'm gonna get in the zone.

- You get in that zone, girl.

- I don't hear any machine
running over there, Ashley.

- Did he say something?
I think he said something.

- He did.
- I wasn't really sure.

I'm too busy focused
on what's going on over here.

- This is the most relaxing
part of my day.

The tattoo part.

♪ ♪

Do they think I can't do color?

I can do color.
I'm a virtuoso of color.

- St..
- How's it going, my friend?

- Tattoo God.

- What kind of style
you going with?

- Color realism is...

- In an hour and a half?
- Pretty time-consuming.

- Some people might think
that pulling off

a realistic red rose
in 90 minutes is risky.

But I'm the Tattoo God.

It's gonna be
a walk in the park.

♪ ♪

- Hey, outlines.
We like seeing those.

- Yeah, I didn't want
to give you something typical.

A flower was the first thing
to come to my head,

but we're not playing it safe.

- Some of you aren't.

- I'm gonna give them
a ruby heart jewel.

I'm doing more
than just color.

I'm doing line work,

I'm doing detailed lace work.

I'm doing some filigree.

I can almost guarantee
he's not gonna do any of this.

This guy doesn't even know
what a liner is.

- Girl, I hope you can
pull this off,

'cause this design
is [bleep] dope.

- Thank you.

Back on my season,

I was a young kid in the house.

I was only tattooing
for four years.

Now that I have
a little bit more experience

under my belt,
I'm not scared of anyone.

You're an old man,
you're washed up,

and someone like me needs to
be the one to take you down.

♪ ♪

- Every scale better be
finished in this snake.

You guys only got
15 minutes left.

- Yeah.

- Hope so.

- All right, guys.

Five.

Four. Three.

Two. One.

Turn 'em off.

- Ooh, baby.
That's beautiful, it's nice.

- It is.
- Not bad for an old guy.

- All right. We got it.
We're all done.

- Yeah? That's awesome.

- How you feel about
your tattoo, man?

- Like a million bucks.

- I think I got it, man.

I came to take care
of some business.

- Yeah, you know,
I'm just making it my business

to win this.

No ifs, ands, or buts
about it, you know?

- I'm looking for
the same thing.

That's what I came for, to win.

- ♪ Keep on lookin' ♪

- Shit-talker.

- All right, guys.
- All right.

90 minutes is no joke, huh?

- It was a little tough.

- It was tough.
- It was tight.

- Was there any, like, meaning

behind that snake
getting his head cut off?

- Totally went after him.

- Yeah?
Shit.

- Cut the head
of the snake off.

- Tito, I really liked
your design.

All of the textures
on the light part of the face,

where you put in
those gray washed circles

that indicate
that bumpy texture,

that was really cool.

- This tongue's a little weird,

hanging out the side
of the mouth,

because you don't have

all the details
inside the mouth

to really show that that
tongue's coming out the side.

It's almost like
a black side of the mouth,

and then just tongue.

But you got some clean lines
in this thing,

and kept it pretty tight.

- The two of you
were very realistic

about getting a fully-rendered
snake done in 90 minutes.

Big Jaz, what you did was,
you gave us just the head.

Your snake head is a really
powerful traditional tattoo.

It's bold, it's strong.

- You have a nice,
bold outline,

but you do have some outlines
that don't meet up.

There's black lines
that are almost touching,

so you got a couple
inconsistencies on that.

But all in all,
it's a great tattoo.

You just need to button it up
a little bit.

I think that 90 minutes
got you.

- Yeah.

- Well, definitely two
very different takes

on these tattoos today.
- Yeah, 100%.

I mean, line work
for line work,

they both have some flaws.

- Yeah, but all of Tito's
lines connect fully.

- I think Big Jaz's looks
way tougher to me.

- Both of you guys were really
creative with this challenge.

Putting styles aside,

when we get down
to the fundamentals...

♪ ♪

Tito, my vote is for you.

- Thank you.

- My vote's for Tito.
- Thank y'all so much.

- Big Jaz,
I love that design, dude.

I would rather wear yours,

but it came down
to your lines meeting,

so my vote's for Tito.

- Congratulations, Tito,
you won the face-off.

- You won the battle,
but the war's not over yet.

- That's what
I'm talking about.

- So, Tito,
what are you gonna call

for your six-hour
grudge match tattoo,

style or subject?

- Just got eliminated
for Japanese day,

and I need to redeem myself.

I think I want to go
with... Japanese.

- Japanese.

- Bring it on.
- Do you do a lot of Japanese?

- Yes, I do.

- So this is gonna be
a fight, man.

- Long flight to Japan.

You ain't got much time
to draw.

- Good luck, get to work.
- All right.

- Good job, today.
- All right.

- I can't believe
they're doing Japanese.

- Japanese is a killer.
- You got lucky on this one.

- I didn't get lucky.
I earned it.

- Game on.
Let the best man win.

- Bring it on, old man.

♪ ♪

[tattoo machine buzzing]

- Ashley, St. Marq,
you guys are halfway there.

I better see some
bomb color tattoos.

- Hey, Ashley, I think
if this was black and gray,

I'd be almost done already.

- Sounds like you would've
rushed it to me.

Might come out
looking like shit.

St. Marq, really?
A rose?

Dude, that's a pretty
basic bitch move.

- You know this isn't
the challenge

that you have to only use
your mag.

You can pull out that liner.
Just saying.

- It's faster.
- Faster, but not cleaner.

- [laughs]
- Good luck.

- Tighten that thing up, man.
Put some lines on it, please.

- At least one or two.

- I don't know what the fuss is
about liners.

Only an amateur would start
this tattoo off with a liner.

I've been doing this
for 30 years.

I graduated from liners
a long time ago.

It's looking lovely already.

If Ashley was intimidated
by the Tattoo God before,

wait till she sees what I've
got in store for her today.

- St. Marq is doing
whatever St. Marq does.

- Everything's like...
[vocalizes]

- Put a [bleep] line
in your tattoo.

One, one line.

- Even the Tattoo God
cannot stop time.

You got 15 minutes.
15 minutes.

- I don't have enough time
to give this tattoo

the second pass on the color,
which I know it needs.

Instead, I have to finish
the frame around the heart

so I can present
a somewhat finished tattoo.

I know I'm gonna be sending
this tattoo

to the judges unsaturated.

I know that.

I'm just hoping

St. Marq's tattoo
looks like shit.

♪ ♪

- You guys got five...

four... three...

two... one.

Put 'em down.
Tattoos are done.

- 90 minutes goes by
super fast.

- Oh, that's perfect.

- Really pops,
got a lot of dimension,

tons of color.

- 90 minutes, pretty good.
- That is [bleep].

- If you came into the shop
and asked me

to do that in 90 minutes,
I would give you the finger.

- [laughs]
- [laughs]

- Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.
All right.

- Well, I am amazed
at how much I got done.

I think you wish
you had, like, another hour

to, like, finish the border.

- Okay.
- I think you do.

- Now you're kinda
just making some stuff up.

- What's going on, guys?
- Hey, guys.

Did you guys have time
to tattoo

between all that shit-talking?

- Fast 90 minutes, huh?

- Like, 90 minutes ain't shit.

- Ashley, you chose
a pretty complicated design.

- I didn't want to go simple.
It--

- It looked pretty simple.

- I mean, a rose is simple.

That's the first thing
that would come

to anyone's head in color.

So I didn't go with
the safe choice.

- Ashley, I do a ton of jewels,
and the way

that you rendered this,
your whole tattoo looks tonal,

because the top of that jewel
blends right into the sides

of the jewel that are faceted,

and the whole thing looks
a little bit flat.

- It just looked like
you were really rushing.

You have these dope,
like, undershadows

on the ornamental work,
and then on the right top,

you forgot that whole shadow,
so it was really noticeable.

But I like the overall drawing.

- I mean, I think that
the lines were pretty choppy,

and for being kind of simple,
I would expect to see...

- Well, what did it lack?
- Like, not scratchy lines.

- Still, her lines are better
than his lines,

'cause there aren't any.

- Sometimes, I'll replace lines
with just hard contrast,

which is why I started off
the rose

in a base of black and gray.

- I know that it's your style

to not go in there
and use a liner,

but what it lacks to me
is a focal point,

because the whole thing
was so soft.

- I did think oil painting
when I saw it.

And the overall shape
of the rose was nice.

I think you had the highlights
in the right spots.

Definitely, the color was
a 90-minute color job.

- For sure.
- It could've been bumped up.

There was some parts
that weren't very saturated.

- I would say both tattoos
needed more.

I think I got more done.

- Needed more.
- I think I got way more done.

- Looking at both of these
tattoos at first glance,

they're both pretty nice
damn tattoos.

- I'm bringing it back
to the fundamentals, guys.

Ashley gave us a lot of nice
really crispy line work.

You put a lot of yourself
into the design.

It was creative,
it was unexpected.

I'm going with Ashley.

- Man, this is a tough one,
because yeah,

he probably could've used
some lines.

Yeah, she could've used
some more color.

Overall, just looking
at the tattoos...

♪ ♪

My vote's for...

St. Marq.
- I appreciate it.

- It all comes down
to you, bud.

- I like Ashley's.
It's bright from a distance.

♪ ♪

All right.

♪ ♪

My vote's for St. Marq
just because

it's gonna look like
a realistic rose

when it fades a little bit.

- 20-year-old realistic rose.

- I mean,
that's the style of it.

- I don't like this call.
I was on your team, girl.

- That's okay.

- I was on the fence.
I really was.

- So, congratulations,
St. Marq.

- Thank you.

- You won
the face-off challenge, man.

- By the skin of your teeth.
- Ah, yes.

- You get to pick
the style or subject

of tomorrow's six-hour
grudge match tattoo.

- We're gonna go with
black-and-gray realism.

- Black-and-gray realism.

- You know what
I was gonna say.

- Wait a second, wait a second.
Hold up, hold up.

Isn't Ashley a black-and-gray
realism artist?

- I don't know.
I would argue she's not.

- Okay, well, hey,
this is gonna be good.

He's a black-and-gray
specialist.

She's
a black-and-gray specialist.

We're gonna see two amazing
tattoos tomorrow.

- I'm also excited to see
if Ashley can beat him

at his own game.

- Gloves off.
Get drawing.

- Yeah, I'd be drawing
all night, guys.

- Good luck, guys.
- Good luck.

- You knew he was
gonna pick that.

- Yeah.

- Just imagine what I can do
with six hours, Ashley.

Imagine what I can do.

- You know I do
the same thing, right?

- I'm putting you
in your comfort zone.

There will be no excuses.

- No excuses, you're right.

But you had plenty of those
today, so...

- I'm calling you out.
- All right.

- All right, fellas.
You ready for this?

Big Jaz, you amped up?

- Yeah.
- Tito, ready to lay it down?

- I'm ready, man.

- Your six-hour
grudge match tattoo,

Japanese, starts right now.

- Let's do it.

- You ready?
- We're ready.

- Tito called Japanese.
I'm stoked.

- Looks good to me, man.

- It brings a lot
of the traditional aspects,

you know, solid lines,
bold color, heavy black,

that just makes
for a solid tattoo.

- Ooh, baby.

- The scale's right here
right now.

Who's tipping it?

- All right.
Let's do this.

♪ ♪

- Ooh, this thing looks cool.

- I tried to hit something
with higher contrast,

so you can tell what it is.

I'm doing a geisha.

She's gonna have
a black-and-gray kimono on,

and a lotus flower on her
to show some colors,

and her hair put up
with a hairpiece.

- And you have family
in Panama, still?

- My wife is still over there.
- Must be rough.

- And then I go to Panama,
spend some time with her,

and then I come back
until the paperwork gets done.

But it's going really slow.

It got really hard
in the competition,

being away from my family.

They are
my biggest motivation.

And I had to prove, then,
that I'm away for a reason.

I'm away to show that
I'm the best tattoo artist.

- So you went home on Japanese.

- Yeah, I was doing
a Hannya mask.

- Is this the one up here?

- Yep. Somebody's trying
to prove a point next to me.

Big Jaz is doing
a Hannya mask.

I believe that somebody's
being funny right here.

- A little Hannya?
- Yes, sir.

Tito got kicked off,
he did a Hannya.

- Rub it on in.
- Yeah.

Tito, why you so salty?

You done called me a snake.

I had to repay the favor.

You're gonna see what
a Hannya mask is all about.

I know how to flow
with my lines and my color

and my everything,

because you...
don't know what you're doing.

And I'm about to ruin
your chances

to win this grudge match.

- All right, in this corner,

we have Ashley Velazquez!

And in this corner,
St. Marq the Tattoo God!

You guys have six hours.

Let's tattoo.

♪ ♪

- Okay, stand up for me.

- St. Marq has the power,

and he goes
black-and-gray realism.

That's what both of these guys
specialize in.

It's a level playing field.

This is gonna be
an awesome battle.

I've got six hours to pull off
this realistic human eye.

I'm gonna be able to show
some really smooth gradation,

some really fine detail,
and a little bit of texture.

It's not an easy tattoo,

it just happens to be easy
for me.

My opponent is gonna aim
really high.

She knows what's at stake.
- Okay.

- So I think
she's gonna overshoot.

- What's that?
I can't hear you.

Tattoo God, speak up.

- Oh, this is getting heated.

- [laughs]

I intimidated the crap
out of Ashley,

so she's gonna aim so high

she can't possibly finish
this tattoo.

I think I just lured her
into my trap.

- I'm doing a portrait
of a tiger,

so I'm taking on something
that nobody wants to touch.

But I'm not scared to do it.
I can handle it.

- Do you do a lot of cats
at home?

Is that...

- Portraits in general.
- Okay.

- If I could do
a portrait a day

for the rest of my career,
I'd be pretty happy.

Gotta beat St. Marq
because he's annoying as shit,

and his cockiness
drives me nuts.

So I just opened my own shop.

- Oh, really?
- Yeah.

We actually just received
an award

for the best shop in New Haven.

- Really?
Dude, that is so cool.

- Yeah.

At the end of the day,
I have a lot to prove

to my staff back home,

my crew.

I don't want
to let anyone down.

I'm focused.

Just gotta make it happen,
at this point.

I came here to play,
and I came here to win.

♪ ♪

- All right, you only have
one hour left

on these Japanese tattoos.

- Do you do a lot
of Japanese tattooing?

- A little bit of Japanese
here and there.

- And you've been tattooing
long enough--

I say it all the time,
but if you've been tattooing

over ten years in a street shop
and you ain't done a koi fish,

I don't know--
I don't know what's going on.

- Yeah, exactly, right?
[laughs]

25 years of tattooing
under my belt.

These days,
tattoos have no soul.

But my tattooing has
a lot of soul.

And being
the third person eliminated,

I felt that I didn't
have a chance

to really show what I can do.

I want to prove that I can
swing with the best of them.

- You worried about going up
against Tito today?

- No, I'm not worried.
I love the competition aspect.

Never-ending learning process

when it comes to tattooing,
you know?

♪ ♪

- Dude, Tito's killing it.
Tito's is--

- Tito's is so good.
- It is dope.

- Yeah, but there's a bunch
of hiccups in the line work.

See all those little blowies,
all on the right-hand side?

- I really like
Big Jaz's design.

But I also think the style
that he went,

he could've done
a lot more with that thing,

gave it some competition,
gave it something.

- On the other side of things,
I feel like if you give

a small, simple tattoo
that's absolutely bulletproof,

there's nothing to debate
on that.

If it's solid enough,
it could speak for itself.

♪ ♪

- All right, guys,
this grudge match is over

in five, four,

three, two, one.

That's it, machines down.

- All right, my friend.

- That's crazy.

- Yeah, we're definitely
winning with this, man.

- All right.
- Yeah.

- Of all the designs,
you're gonna do a Hannya mask?

- You know, just business.

- Just business.
- Yeah.

- Well, business gonna get
taken care of today.

- That it will.

- Like my tattoo?
I think it's pretty solid.

- This is all I wanted
out of you.

I wanted you to tattoo
with confidence,

and you did it.

You know, you showed me
that anything's possible.

- Anything's possible.
Including beating you?

- We'll see.

- In terms of a symbolic fight,

these guys are definitely
going blow for blow.

You know, yesterday,
Tito did a snake

with its head cut off.

Today, Big Jaz is doing
a Hannya mask.

- Definitely some knives out.

- These guys are definitely
going back and forth

with this, you know,
jab for jab.

Oh, yeah? Really?

You're gonna go ahead
and throw that at me?

Well, I'm gonna throw it back.

- Hey, guys.
- What's up, guys?

- How are y'all?

- How do you guys think
you did?

- He pulled a Hannya mask
on me.

Think he was trying
to make a point.

- Stung a little bit?

- Yeah, that was a payback.

That was a good one.

- Big Jaz, my favorite thing
about your tattoos

is that they are bold.

You always choose
such a strong image,

and you make sure
that it's always very legible.

- You had this cool drawing
of this Hannya mask.

It has that ghostly
Japanese look.

- And I feel like
you really redeemed yourself

from the line work
that you did yesterday.

- I do like your color choices.

Red Hannya's
pretty traditional,

and it always looks nice
in the skin.

I like the drawing,

and I think you got
a solid silhouette.

- Thank you.
- You too, Tito.

I think you had
a solid silhouette.

- It's nice and clean,
it's super readable.

The cherry blossoms,

all of them have
a lot of detail.

All the petals,
all are super uniform.

- The amazing effect
that you were able

to pull off in the hair,
how it looks like the hair

is perfectly combed
and perfectly presented,

that it has
this beautiful shine to it,

is really, really rad.

- Every line is nice
next to that next one above it.

Overall, dude,
it's a killer tattoo.

- Thanks.

- All, right, well,
we need to get into this debate

and figure out
which one of these guys wins.

- I mean, I like things
about both, you know?

- Big Jaz came out swinging
with something

that you can see
from across the street.

- But Tito's, I think,
is a little bit cleaner.

- We gotta figure this out.

- Tattoo for tattoo.

- Big Jaz, you did
a kick-ass tattoo, man.

I mean, you can see that thing
from a block away.

It's tough as nails.

I don't think
it's as bulletproof as Tito's.

My vote's for Tito.

- Thank you.

- I love what you both
presented today.

Tito, you gave an image
that was so fun to look at,

so traditional Japanese,
it was awesome.

Big Jaz, you gave us
a tough, bold tattoo.

[dramatic music]

Tito, my vote is for you.

You hit it
out of the park today.

- Thank you.

- My vote's for Tito.
- Congratulations, Tito.

That means you won
the grudge match.

- Feels good, man.
It's a relief.

- For me, I felt we both won.
Very proud.

♪ ♪

I might have lost
the grudge match,

but that's just a battle.

Tattooing 25 years,
I've won this war.

This is not the last
you'll see of Big Jaz.

I'll be back.

- My man.

[both laugh]

♪ ♪

- Whoo, two hours is all
you guys have left.

Not a lot
for black-and-gray realism.

- You still got a ways
to go, huh?

- Got a little ways to go,
but I think we're good.

- Serving up
some whoop-ass today?

- The magic is upon me.

I got demons running
all through me.

I come from a long line
of Southern Baptist ministers,

so I think it was only
a matter of time

before I was ordained
at something.

And thus, the Tattoo God
was born.

You think you're gonna
get done?

- Yeah. You know that,
right, Tattoo God?

I'm not worried
about St. Marq or his title,

or the name that he decided
to give himself.

I can tattoo black-and-gray
just as good as him.

- I still see
some stencil lines there.

- Shut up.
- Time is ticking away.

- All right, this is it.

You guys only have one hour

to finish these up.

Did you keep an eye
on what St. Marq was up to?

- I was eyeballing it.
- Yeah.

- How uncreative?
- It's boring as [bleep], 100%.

- Add something to it, man.

You know,
a little [bleep] flair.

- I mean, at least he put
some lines in today,

and they are really nice.

- Ashley,
she's racing the clock.

- I'm giving Ashley points,
at least,

for the creativity, man.

She's giving it her all
right now.

- Yeah.

- She's focused in
on every little part of it.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Every little part.

I mean, she's zoned in.

- This grudge match is over
in five,

four, three,

two, one.

That's it, guys.
Machines down.

- All right, we are all done,
six hours later.

- Doesn't get more real
than that.

- That's [bleep] nuts, man.
- It is [bleep] nuts.

- Wild.
I'm blown away, brother.

That is absolutely
[bleep] awesome.

- All right.
- Yeah.

♪ ♪

- St. Marq, you're so godly,

I thought you were gonna
finish that in three hours.

- We all know
who's winning the grudge match.

I'll let my tattoo
do the speaking for itself.

- You loudmouth, now you're
gonna let it speak for itself?

- This was the school
of St. Marq right here.

- What, is your old ass
the principal or something?

- This is
a pretty good matchup.

- Oh, crazy battle.

- The Tattoo God
is in the house.

- That guy's got an ego, man.

- If you're always barking,
you know, sometimes,

you know, people want to see
if you got any bite.

- But it seems like
Ashley came in

with a vengeance of her own.

- She's a fighter too.
For sure.

- For sure, she definitely
is sick and tired

of hearing about
this Tattoo God.

- Oh, there's the god himself.
- How do you feel?

- I think I chose
the right size,

the right amount of detail.

It was pretty smooth sailing.

- That took six hours?

- I mean, I think, sometimes,

simple and elegant
is harder to achieve,

and you have to show restraint.

- Today, I think you pulled off
a really smooth, clean tattoo.

It looks like a realistic eye.

But you focus in with all
your white on the iris,

and you really
layer it in there.

And when you put white
over black, it turns it gray.

That's why it almost tricks
your eye and turns it blue.

So, right now, that middle iris
is the most weighted thing,

and everything else
flattens out for me.

Do it through the whole thing,

and make that thing
heavy and gray,

and more weight to it.

- The black in the center
of the eye is really solid.

The eyelashes are really crisp.

- You played it a little safe.

- If playing to your strength
is playing it safe,

then I'm guilty of that.

- I went with a portrait
of an animal that has fur,

two eyes, a nose, a mouth.

You called the shots,
and I think you played it safe.

- Ashley, I love
that you came in swinging.

Girl, you came in
and you were ready to fight.

You came in with a design that
you wanted to compete with.

I love
your attention to detail.

My favorite part
was the lower lip of the tiger.

You made it so high contrast,
but you blocked in

these different tones of gray
to show where the lip rolled,

and where the lip was wet.

It took such knowledge of light
and dark to pull that off.

- But the one thing
that does kill me

is that black background
that you put on it.

I would've honestly liked

to have just seen you
leave it out

and just done
a little lighter shading.

- You're so focused on details

that you're creating things
that aren't there.

So, you create fur
where it's not,

and creates way less contrast,

'cause there's so many details.

- I mean, there's flaws in it,
I get it.

But at the end of the day,
when you're here to compete,

I want to try to do
what I can do in six hours.

Not a three-hour tat.

I showed up
for a six-hour challenge.

- Yeah, you did.

- They both did great tattoos.

Ashley, she does have
some spots

that kind of got away from her.
- Yeah.

- St. Marq's is a little
on the simple side.

- But simplicity sometimes,
in a tattoo, it's good.

- From the Tattoo God,
I'm bored.

- From here to 20 feet away,
I can still tell it's an eye.

Ashley overdid it
with the details.

My vote is for St. Marq.

- St. Marq,
I love soft gray shading.

I know how hard it is to do.

I know how difficult
those blends were.

You definitely pulled them off.

The thing is, for me, is,

I'm basically going
for the artist

who swung for the fences.

My vote is for Ashley.

- Wow, okay.

- Swinging for the fences
is one thing,

but you can bunt
and get to first base

and beat who didn't hit--

you know what I mean,
who swung and missed.

- I'm not happy enough
with first base.

- No, I get it.

I mean, I think both of them
have shining points.

Hmm. Shit.

- What's it gonna be, Cleen?

♪ ♪

- My vote's for St. Marq.

- Thank you.

- St. Marq, congratulations.

You won the grudge match.

- I don't know, man.
- Does that settle it?

- No.
- We settled?

- No, it really doesn't.

- We're not settled?
- No, it really doesn't.

'Cause you was tiptoeing
the whole time.

I really showed up.

- Ashley, I love that you
came here to compete, babe.

You swung for the fences.

You know, unfortunately,
St. Marq

hit a home run with a bunt.

Sometimes, it happens.

- I lost this competition

'cause St. Marq
played it safe.

But I went hard,
I came in with my gloves on.

Until next time.

- [laughs]