The Dudley Boyz Reveal How They Created Their Iconic Finishing Move, The 3D

Team 3D, otherwise known as The Dudley Boyz, is set to return to the ring for "Impact 1000," which airs on September 14. During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Bully Ray discussed how their finishing move came to be.

"Despite the fact that Devon wanted to be a singles guy and I wanted to tag, we knew the chemistry we had," Ray said. "We felt it when we hit the very first 3D."

Ray came up with the idea of 3D after seeing Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio grapple in WCW.

"Malenko shot Mysterio into the ropes and gave him a pop-up face bump," Ray recalled. "I thought, 'What if you could turn around while the guy was in the air, and on the way down, hit him with a Diamond Cutter?' But these were cruiserweights. Could super heavyweights do it? I tried it on D-Von when we were beating the s*** out of each other in ECW, and he made it look incredible. It's just a small glimpse at how talented he is, and we knew we had something."

Ray admitted, "I wasn't a well-trained wrestler at all. Devon, on the other hand, was trained perfectly by Johnny Rodz. Devon had all the in-ring ability in the world, and that showed."

The first 3D officially happened when The Dudley Boyz turned on Spike Dudley in ECW.

"And that's when the first 3D came along, when I turned on Sandman and Spike Dudley," Ray said. "Me and Devon unified for the first time in the ECW Arena, and it looks like we killed Spike when we hit it. But we ironed out the kinks, and it's become one of the most, if not the most successful tag team finish in the world of pro wrestling today."