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Profile: Team 3D
One of the most decorated tag teams in wrestling history, Team 3D have enjoyed reigns as ECW World, WWE, WWE World, WCW World, NWA World, and TNA World Tag Team Champions. They have also held the HUSTLE Super Tag Team Titles and in 2005 won the AJPW World's Strongest Tag Team League. Prior to leaving WWE the same year, Brother Ray and Brother Devon competed as The Dudley Boyz, named Bubba Ray (or Buh Buh Ray) and D-Von respectively.
After eight title reigns in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where they antagonized crowds with aggressive in-ring promos as heel members of the Dudley family, the duo signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1999. Bubba acquired a stuttering gimmick that eventually subsided, and the on-screen half-brothers became synonymous with the use of tables in the WWF. This played a part in their addition to the feud between The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian, adding their signature tables to the ladders and chairs associated with the other teams respectively to create the TLC match, first used at SummerSlam 2000. In February 2001, with the help of their debuting on-screen brother from ECW, Spike Dudley, Bubba and D-Von defeated The New Age Outlaws for their first WWF (WWE World) Tag Team Championship.
By this point the team had turned babyface, but would return to heel status by joining the WCW/ECW Alliance during the Invasion angle that lasted until November. As members of this faction, they defeated The Hardy Boyz for their first and only WCW World Tag Team Championship in October, which they would unify with the WWF titles the following month. This victory made The Dudley Boyz the first team to win ECW, WWF and WCW World Tag Team Titles, though the latter belts were a part of WWF programming by this time.
In 2002 they feuded with little brother Spike and fellow ECW alumnus Tazz, but went on to be separated by the brand extension. Bubba Ray was assigned to the Raw brand, where he wrestled as a babyface for the WWE Hardcore Title (which he won ten times) and teamed with Spike. D-Von underwent a gimmick change on the SmackDown brand, emerging as Reverend D-Von, a heel clergyman assisted by Deacon Batista in raising dubious funds for Mr McMahon. At Judgment Day, the former team mates met across the battle line, as Bubba supported Trish Stratus against Stacy Keibler with D-Von in her corner, after which Bubba put his half-brother through a table.
After splitting from Batista on SmackDown and briefly teaming with Ron Simmons, D-Von reunited with Bubba Ray and Spike at Survivor Series, helping them and their partner Jeff Hardy win a six-man tag match. He was then traded to Raw as part of a deal for The Big Show. During an 18-month run as the premier team on Monday nights, they made a brief heel turn to align themselves with General Manager Eric Bischoff, but quickly turned face again by attacking Chief of Staff Sean Morley.
In March 2004 they were drafted to SmackDown where, as heels once more, they sided with Paul Heyman and became WWE Tag Team Champions, making them the first team to win both brand's tag titles. Spike, who had been drafted with them, turned also heel and eventually began bossing his on-screen brothers around, assuming the role of family leader as he was Cruiserweight Champion and by now his siblings had no belts of their own. The angle would be short lived however, as Bubba and D-Von took several months off, making a single and final appearance at the first One Night Stand pay-per-view in June 2005 before being released (along with Spike) by WWE.
With legal animosity surrounding the rights to their trademarked ring names, the former Dudley Boyz signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in September, and debuted on the October 1 episode of Impact as Brother Ray and Brother Devon, Team 3D. As babyfaces, they set their sights on the NWA World Tag Team Titles, claiming that all of their past accomplishments paled in comparison to the prestige of those belts. In between caustic remarks about their former employers and being joined in TNA by Brother Runt (Spike), they feuded with Team Canada and America's Most Wanted, en route to a feud with The Latin American Exchange that would see them finally lift the gold at Lockdown 2007 in an electrified cage match. The following month, the National Wrestling Alliance would strip Team 3D of the titles when severing all ties with TNA, leaving Brother Ray and Brother Devon to be recognized as the first TNA World Tag Team Champions.
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