Spike Dudley: The First 3D Is Not The Way 3D Is Supposed To Be

Spike Dudley looks back on taking the first ever 3D from The Dudley Boyz.

At ECW Crossing The Line 1997, Bubby and D-Von Dudley would join forces and in the process, debuting their 3D finishing move. The move is one of the most famous tag team finishes in wrestling history, even leading to The Usos using it themselves as the 1D. However, the first one was an ugly landing for Spike Dudley, the recipient of the move at Crossing The Line 1997.

While speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Spike spoke about the spot, ‘thanking god’ for Bubba Dudley.

“We practiced it at House of Hardcore, at the school, different variations of it forever, for weeks before we debuted it. Yeah, that first 3D is not the way 3D is supposed to go. And thank God for Bubba. He was at 400 pounds or something like that, because I landed on his chest. My head never hit, but it was a straight spike piledriver. Had he not been so big and my head hit [the mat], I would have broke my neck. But, yeah, that was ugly. That was not the way the 3D was supposed to be. I mean, honestly, because that was the big thing. When Bubba and D-Von decided they were going to do the tag team it was like, we need to have a finisher. And we would go to the gym coming up with variations of some sort of the diamond cutter, it was the thing. So yeah, I sat there and took, ‘try this, try this, try this, try this, try this.’ For hours, me as the crash dummy, testing it. And yeah, the way it came off on that first one was not really the intention. That wasn’t what they were looking for. But it did look devastating, But yeah, then they said, Okay, we can’t do this with everybody, so we got to figure out a different way. And then they figured it out where D-Von picks the guy, but if they flatten out versus head straight into the ground.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Spike reflected on walking away from the wrestling industry. You can read more about that here.