Dennis Haskins, better known as Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell, was known to be tough but fair to the students at Bayside High School. But in the wrestling ring, he’s just tough.
Haskins made his wrestling debut as the guest commissioner at a pro wrestling event in New Jersey, TMZ reported . The 61- year-old actor sat ringside and ran the proceedings, but he didn’t stop there. At one point Dennis Haskins even got in the ring and slammed a much younger wrestler to the ground, breaking out one of wrestling’s most popular moves in the process.
Dennis Haskins made the appearance for Pro Wrestling Syndicate , a Rahway-based organization that claims some famous 1980s wrestlers like Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Big Van Vader, Yahoo! TV noted . The event, named “Saved by the Bell” in Mr. Belding’s honor, drew close to 1,000 attendees.
“We picked up that fans really like Mr. Belding, Dennis Haskins,” the league’s co-owner, Pat Buck , told Yahoo! TV . “He was a total trouper. He went above and beyond the call of duty, down to practicing wrestling moves. He worked his butt off. A lot of fans came out to see him. The crowd was between 800 and 1,000.”
Dressed in a suit, Dennis Haskins took his duties a “commissioner” seriously, Buck said. But at the end of the match, when one of the bad guys started to rough up another wrestler, Haskins came to his aid along with a group of good-guy wrestlers.
Haskins slammed the wrestler to the ground, the broke out Stone Cold Steve Austin’s signature “Stone Cold stunner,” sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Dennis Haskins has made something of a career out of the Mr. Belding character, Yahoo! TV notes. Aside from his work on the Saved by the Bell: The New Class spinoff, he reprised his role on Nickelodeon’s Victorious and makes appearances across the country, visiting colleges and bars to spin tales of the Saved by the Bell case.