Saved By The Bell actor Dustin “Screech” Diamond has died.
One of many celebrities to have tried their hand in the wrestling ring, Diamond was a lifelong wrestling fan.
Growing up in the times of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior being on television, he would later have a chance to wrestle on Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling and meet some of his childhood wrestling idols, like Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Jimmy “The Mouth Of The South” Hart.
Drafted to Team Nasty and having former NWA/WWF superstar “Nasty Boy” Brian Knobbs as his coach, Diamond trained to become a wrestler with other celebrities and former athletes. Diamond made it to week number eight and learned to use Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ DDT as his finishing maneuver. Screech would be renamed “The Winner” but couldn’t hold this moniker for long as he and tag team partner “Mean Bean” Butterbean lost to “Mr. Not So Perfect” Todd Bridges and the eventual CCW winner “Rodzilla” Dennis Rodman.
Brian Knobs, right, instructs Dustin Diamond and Erin Murphy on Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Photo by Ron Jaffe.
Other forays into the wrestling business for Diamond included being the host of the Reunion Of The Juggalos in 2012. Founded by the Insane Clown Posse, the annual extravaganzas includes music and wrestling, culminating with a pay-per-view. For Memphis Championship Wrestling, Diamond was a referee and manager starting in 2000 before the federation was discontinued as a developmental territory by the World Wrestling Federation in 2001.
Since Diamond’s departure from the Saved By The Bell series, his life has seen a series of struggles. Including a failed marriage and jail time, Diamond had a falling out with his former castmates when he published behind the scenes type article entitled Behind The Bell. His sex-tape Screeched -Saved By The Smell would bring him further ridicule and push him further away from the Hollywood limelight.
Only 18 days ago, Diamond was diagnosed with Stage 4 small-cell lung carcinoma and started chemotherapy immediately. On February 1, 2021, in an attempt to get Diamond to a hospice facility, he was taken off oxygen and his breathing failed, causing Dustin “Screech” Diamond to pass away less than a month after his 44th birthday.
