If you’re a fan of NC State wrestling, then you’re probably familiar with redshirt senior Kai Orine’s signature celebration after he wins a match.

Once Orine puts away his opponent, he goes to the middle of the mat, bends his knees, flexes his arms and sticks out his tongue like he’s been possessed. If you’re able to take your eyes off Orine’s demonic look, you may notice the tattoos that cover his left leg and arm.

While it’s not uncommon for wrestlers to sport tattoos, the artist of the two-time ACC Champion’s tattoos isn’t who you’d expect. It’s the same guy who sticks out his tongue after he wins a match.

Meet the most charismatic athlete on NC State’s campus: Kai Orine.

It all started in the summer of 2020. Orine was hanging out with a group of his teammates when former Wolfpack wrestler Matt Fields had an idea. Fields suggested that Orine should start learning how to tattoo. Orine had always been a talented artist, but he wasn’t too keen on the idea at first.

“My perception of tattooing and everything at the time was l was very hesitant of it,” Orine said. “I was just like ‘I don’t know about that. You know it’s permanent? I’m not really sure if that’s what I mess you guys up with first.’”

Fields couldn’t convince him at the time, but the thought of it stuck in Orine’s head. When he went back home to Missouri that summer, he brought it up to his dad, who loved the idea and thought his son could start a side hustle tattooing to make money.

“So we got in the car, drove around the corner to some sketchy little vape shop, and they had a $100 kit that I definitely paid way too much money for,” Orine said.

He brought the kit back to NC State and all of his teammates wanted to get a tattoo even though Orine hadn’t even tested it out yet. Orine practiced on fake skin for about 30 minutes before redshirt senior AJ Kovacs volunteered to be first.

For Kovacs, the motivation behind letting Orine tattoo him with no experience was simple.

“If he messes it up that bad I could always get it covered,” Kovacs said. “And so I said, ‘You’re never really going to get better — you’re never going to know how it is until you touch human skin’. So I was like, ‘I’ll be the dummy.’”

Orine drew a two-line cross on Kovacs’ wrist, but had no idea how to work the machine.

“I was running the machine way too hot,” Orine said. “It was moving way too fast, and I cut the hell out of them. I cut him bad. He ended up getting it covered up.”

However, Kovacs was happy nonetheless after getting his first tattoo.

“I didn’t really know how it was hurting,” Kovacs said. “I thought it was just like a normal tattoo. But it was just funny because as soon as I sat down, he just did two lines, and it was so quick, I didn’t even realize how bad it was gonna come out. I was like, ‘Oh, this is sick. I just got a fresh tattoo.’”

Since then, Orine has vastly improved with the ink pen in his hand. He has a studio at his apartment where his teammates come to get fresh ink. Despite Kovacs covering up the first tattoo Orine gave him, he’s been to the studio multiple times since. Orine has tattooed Roman numerals on Kovacs’ arm that represent some of his family members and also gave him a grim reaper with a snake wrapped around it on his leg.

Orine has given himself 10 tattoos and said that he’s tattooed at least half of the wrestling team. Every time he goes back home, he gives his mom a tattoo and she’s up to a half-sleeve on her arm.

Orine’s inspiration with tattoos and art in general started in his senior year of high school when he took six art classes. It was the only subject he really cared about.

“It was the only thing I had real, genuine interest in,” Orine said. “Just being a better artist, being a better designer, being able to craft and make things with my hands.”

Orine’s love for art started at a young age when he saw the artwork his dad did. Orine’s dad would pull out old drawings to show to his son, who always wondered why his dad didn’t pursue a career in art.

“He would keep some of his old art projects,” Orine said. “I remember looking at him thinking ‘Wow, Dad. You should have done something with that. What the hell are you doing?’”

His father had just graduated high school when his son was born and immediately joined the workforce and became a carpenter instead of pursuing an art career.

“He sacrificed a lot, but he definitely had that natural artistic ability and just being a craftsman, and I think that’s who I picked it up mostly from,” Orine said. “My dad is definitely the one that is just the natural artist, and he’s able to just see things and put them on paper.”

When trying to decide on a school during his recruitment process, the quality of the wrestling program was the top priority, but Orine also wanted to go to a place where he could hone his artistic ability.

As the recruitment process went on, NC State became the obvious choice. It’s home to one of the best wrestling programs in the country and has a top-tier school for art and design.

“During the whole recruitment process, I took education into consideration,” Orine said. “I didn’t want to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m just gonna wrestle and figure it out from there.’ I wanted to make the most of college and treat my education. Take that part seriously. NC State ended up having everything that I was looking for.”

Orine remembers having to build an art portfolio and complete problem-solving projects during his application process for the College of Design. Once he got to the interview portion, the interviewer was surprised to see a wrestler sitting across from her.

“I remember doing my interview, and she said, ‘Yeah, we don’t get very many athletes out here,’” Orine said. “‘You know, most of the time if we’re lucky, one a year. Every other couple of years, it’s maybe one.’ I definitely was the only athlete there for a while.”

There’s a reason for that. Orine just graduated from the College of Design over the summer and described how difficult it was to deal with the rigorous courses he was taking while maintaining his status as an NCAA All-American wrestler.

“It was a pain in the butt to really get around and work around my schedule and around practices and stuff because I had a lot of class conflicts here and there, but I made it work,” Orine said. “I came in early, came in later, whatever I had to do to get my same practice time in, but also be able to make classes and stuff like that.”

Now, Orine’s a four-time ACC Academic Honor Roll Honoree. Between academics, art and wrestling, he’s already busy. However, Orine’s art doesn’t just start and end with his tattooing. He spray painted the Free Expression Tunnel, designed shirts for Pack United and RTC and is the wrestling team’s barber. Orine’s free-spiritedness has only positively impacted the people around him.

“It’s so uplifting,” Kovacs said. “He’s putting himself on the map, but he’s also putting the wrestling team on the map. Because, honestly, his artwork and stuff is kind of put to the side. So he’s this good already with art as a secondary.”

While Orine has a clear passion for art, wrestling has always been his first and deepest love. He’s entering his last season at NC State and after it ends, he hopes to join the coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

That doesn’t mean his artistic ventures will come to an end. Orine wants to find a perfect balance between his two passions. He envisions himself teaching wrestling while also running a tattoo shop.

“I’m kind of debating on just falling into and coaching wrestling because wrestling is something that I’ve done my whole life now, and it’s something I could continue to do for a number of years,” Orine said. “But I’m not sure, because I could see myself being able to still coach wrestling but then having enough time to continue my own ventures on the side.”

Whatever Orine does next, he will take it on with the same fervent attitude of the guy who sticks his tongue out when he’s disposed of an opponent.