For the final time, Team 3D (Bully Ray and D-Von Dudley) and The Hardys (Matt and Jeff Hardy) collided inside a professional wrestling ring at TNA Bound For Glory. For such an occasion, Matt and Jeff defended both TNA World and NXT Tag Team Championships with the added stipulations of tables. According to WWE and TNA Hall of Famer Bully Ray, the original match idea spawned from his mind many months ago.

“I knew that the Hardys obviously were doing such a great job in TNA,” Ray said on “Busted Open Radio.” “I knew that it was the 25-year anniversary of the tables match from MSG. I knew that the clock was ticking on D-Von. That had a major part of this and was a factor in this. D-Von, despite the fact that he is feeling considerably better than he ever has and did an incredible job at Bound for Glory — bravo to D-Von for getting in there and being able to do considerably better than he did at TNA 1000. He wasn’t happy with that last appearance, and he wanted to kind of get rid of that bad taste in his mouth, that bad memory.”

“… All of these factors, all of these things were lining up, and I got in touch with TNA, I said, ‘Listen, it’s right here. It’s right here in front of us.’ We have an opportunity to do something special for tag team wrestling.”

After TNA officials stamped their approval on a match pitting The Hardys against Team 3D, they originally wanted to set it up with a contract signing. Ray, however, pushed back with the idea of a “final negotiation” where both sides discussed the terms and background of their bout. Ray’s idea later played out on TNA television, with both sides agreeing to a tables match as a nod to their previous one from the 2000 WWE Royal Rumble.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.