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Yo-Yo's Roomie

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6 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

The medical team nearly ruined Joe/Balor.  I wish they'd just leave the blood alone.  It's a PPV,  no reason to clean it up. 

Generally speaking, I'd agree with you. But situationally, I thought Joe made it work so incredibly well it added to the match. He just played it with so much fury and frustration (probably because he was really feeling those) that it have him this dangerous, caged animal feel. I think it was a really great match, in large because of both the blood and because of how Joe reacted to the doctors.

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4/20/16

American Alpha Vs Enzo and Big Cass: For the first time since AA really took off, they have a split crowd for one of their matches. The crowd is very into Enzo in particular. American Alpha are very good, but there's a definite formula to their matches. Gable gets some shine, then he gets worked over, makes the hot tag to Jordan and they go home. This followed that same formula, even though it was a face/face match. Enzo was the one who dropped the fall. I'm certain that has to be Enzo and Cass jobbing on their way out of the territory. What's funny is, despite how popular they were, Enzo and Cass had to have had a terrible win/loss record in NXT. Like, if I went back through these results, I'd bet they lost at least twice as many matches as they won. Sometimes I guess wins and losses don't matter.

No Way Jose Vs Alexander Wolfe: Okay, I'm not having this No Way Joe nonsense. Stupid name, stupid gimmick, and the guy doesn't look any great shakes in the ring. He gets the crowd into this though, to be fair. But talk about a limited shelf life and a low ceiling.

There's some discussion between William Regal and Elias Samson in the back, which results in Regal booking Elias against Shinsuke Nakamura for next week.

Nia Jax Vs Deonna Purrazzo: Basic squash win for Nia. Deonna looks decent in the little amount of time she gets.

Samoa Joe Vs Apollo Crews: They go back and forth for about 10 mins before Joe picks up the win. Nothing match really.

Episode MVP: Samoa Joe.

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4/27/16

So the big news here is that Samoa Joe has won the NXT title at a house show. That's some serious bullshit that I don't get to see this title change, although I am a big proponent of sporadic title changes on house shows. Why did it have to be this one though? We'll see highlights of this later.

Asuka vs Eva Marie: This is an all-time bad commentary job by Corey Graves here. He pretty much spends the entire match telling Tom Phillips to shut up because you're not allowed to talk when Eva Marie is on or something. It's really, really obnoxious. The Graves/Phillips combo has generally been good too. The other thumbs down for this is that it's just ridiculous seeing Asuka sell for Eva. This goes just over 10 mins, which is probably 10 mins too long. Nia Jax makes her way out during the match, but doesn't get involved. Asuka puts Eva away, and then Jax gets into the ring and they do a little staredown. 

Next up is the highlights of Joe's title win. He pins Finn with the Muscle Buster and the crowd goes wild. I think it's obvious that it was past time to get the belt on Joe.

The Revival Vs Jeff Parker and Matt Lee: Apparently these two jobbers are still signed to NXT, I assume as career enhancement guys. The only thing I remember about this is Lee being really obnoxious on the apron trying to get himself over. I don't know for sure if this legit pissed off The Revival or if they were just extra stiff and ornery to get over their anger at losing the tag titles. 

The Hype Bros Vs Blake and Murphy: I almost thought for a second that Blake and Murphy were going to get a win here. It would have been nice, but alas, no. The good news is that The Revival came out after the match and beat down The Hype Bros in the aisle. 

Carmella Vs Aliyah: This is the first time we've seen Aliyah since she debuted in that battle royal several weeks back. It kind of seems like she's doing some sort of genie gimmick, or at least her entrance features genie-like mannerisms. In the ring she's playing an aggressive heel. Carmella beats her with the Code of Silence.

Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Elias Samson: This was kept short and sweet, which is good because Elias really shouldn't be booked to be competitive with Nakamura at this stage. The opening women's match should have been booked like this too. Nakamura wins with the Kinshasa to keep on rolling.

Episode MVP: Dash Wilder. He looked particularly pissy in that squash match, and I approve.

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It really felt like they suddenly decided/realized they made a mistake not getting the belt on How at TakeOver. Finn's run was good, and it was crucially important as they built the national touring phase of NXT around him, but if was clearly past time to get to the next chapter.

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1 hour ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

4/27/16

So the big news here is that Samoa Joe has won the NXT title at a house show. That's some serious bullshit that I don't get to see this title change, although I am a big proponent of sporadic title changes on house shows. Why did it have to be this one though? We'll see highlights of this later.

Next up is the highlights of Joe's title win. He pins Finn with the Muscle Buster and the crowd goes wild. I think it's obvious that it was past time to get the belt on Joe.

I believe the only way you can see Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe, NXT Championship change at a house show in full is the NXT: From Secret to Sensation DVD.

Edited by The Natural
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19 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

It really felt like they suddenly decided/realized they made a mistake not getting the belt on How at TakeOver. Finn's run was good, and it was crucially important as they built the national touring phase of NXT around him, but if was clearly past time to get to the next chapter.

It was Joe's time ;).

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On 12/1/2019 at 9:14 PM, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

No Way Jose Vs Alexander Wolfe: Okay, I'm not having this No Way Joe nonsense. Stupid name, stupid gimmick, and the guy doesn't look any great shakes in the ring. He gets the crowd into this though, to be fair. But talk about a limited shelf life and a low ceiling.


Somehow he's still jerking the curtain on the main roster almost 4 years later despite doing basically nothing, but I do remember enjoying the hell out of the one Takeover match they give him - which is, I believe, the next one you'll see. I think if they de-emphasized the gimmick and let him work instead of doing comedy spots, he'd have a lot more to show in the ring.

Edited by MORELOCK
"jurking" ?
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40 minutes ago, MORELOCK said:


Somehow he's still jurking the curtain on the main roster almost 4 years later despite doing basically nothing, but I do remember enjoying the hell out of the one Takeover match they give him - which is, I believe, the next one you'll see. I think if they de-emphasized the gimmick and let him work instead of doing comedy spots, he'd have a lot more to show in the ring.

He’s another one of those guys that is supposed to be a good worker (I’m sure @randomact saw him a bunch on Carolina indies), but his gimmick, complete with conga line through the crowd, was absolutely perfect in NXT as the house show opener to get the crowd pumped. I’m sure he could be used the same way on whatever brand he’s on now, but I assume he’s not nearly as over.

The high point for me was when his music annoyed Lars Sullivan during an interview.

ETA: Guess I don’t know how to tag people.

Edited by JonnyLaw
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I was thinking about Jose last night. It breaks my heart to see where he's at, knowing what he's capable of. Dude is a fantastic talker, and is capable of good matches(though he needs to be guided a bit). I'd love to see him do some old Manny Garcia stuff and attempt a heel turn.

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5/4/16

The show starts with Samoa Joe coming out for a promo. This is his first appearance at Full Sail since winning the title. He talks about being a man of his word, and how it was inevitable he was going to win the title. He is interrupted by Eric Young! Big pop for Young. They were really going all out with the debuting wrestlers during this time. I like EY a lot, but he seemed kind of out of place debuting in this manner. First of all, he looks like a survivalist, which is a bit too close to looking like a homeless person. And he just doesn't come across as a star on the level of a Joe. They have a back-and-forth, and Joe ends up walking out and saying Eric doesn't belong in the same ring as him. I love how every guy that debuts with any kind of name recognition has 'wrestled all over the world'. Calm down, he's from TNA.

Nia Jax Vs Tessa Blanchard: Hey, Tessa's back, and she gets an entrance this time. And gets totally squashed by Nia.

Austin Aries Vs Tye Dillinger: Dillinger is more popular than Aries. Dillinger is more popular than most people in NXT actually, but there's no doubt that Aries hasn't gotten over that great, and I think they have to be considering a heel turn for him now. This is a decent little showcase match for Aries. He wins with a 450 splash. I love that Aries has all these different ways he can finish a guy off, and they all seem credible.

The Revival Vs The Hype Bros: This is pretty much a squash match for the Revival, which I approve of. 

Alex Riley is being interviewed in the back. He has a match with Nakamura next week, and he talks about how much bigger and stronger he is than Nak. He predicts he's going to punch Nak in the face and destroy him. I predict things will go a little differently.

No Way Jose Vs Noah Potjes: Potjes is the future Kona Reeves. This is NWJ's first appearance at Full Sail, and the crowd play along with the gimmick. I think NXT is really the only place a gimmick like this could work, because the crowd seem to go to the shows to have a good time, unlike main roster crowds who seem like they'd rather be anywhere else most of the time. Quick win for Jose.

Cathy Kelly is interviewing Aries in the back. Kelly should be a special attraction like the Undertaker. Not because she's bad. Quite the opposite. This job just kind of seems below her. Aries says he's kinda flying under the radar right now (ie, not getting over). He debuts the banana as a prop.

Samoa Joe Vs Eric Young: I must have missed where they announced this match was happening tonight. Pretty decent match, but again, I feel like Young has been miscast a bit during this show, and don't really buy him at all as being on Joe's level. Joe beats him with the kokina clutch, and then keeps the hold on after the bell.

Episode MVP: Samoa Joe.

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5/11/16

Finn Balor makes his return to Full Sail after losing the NXT title. His boring promo is interrupted by Elias Samson who come out singing a song for Balor. Balor attacks him and throws him out the ring, and then throws his guitar at him. Elias caught it, which was pretty boss. These two will face off later.

American Alpha Vs John Skylar and Corey Hollis: Did Hollis and Skylar ever move up the ranks in NXT? Seems like they've been the jobber tag team for a while now. It would be nice if they could cycle another team into that spot just for variety. As fun as AA are, I have to say it again, they're very formulaic. Lots of chants for Gable, and for Jordan too for maybe the first time. The Revival come out for a closer look at this one.

Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Alex Riley: Riley's chops look like shit, I noted to myself, but after the match you can see his handprints all over Nakamura's chest. Nakamura obviously won this one pretty quickly. 

Austin Aries is in William Regal's office. He's telling Regal he needs to do something to make him stand out. Blake and Murphy come in. They're begging for one more title shot (the nerve). You can see where this is going. Aries will find himself a partner to face Blake and Murphy next week.

Alexa Bliss vs Rachel Ellering: Another Bliss squash? Hey, I've never seen Rachel Ellering work before. She looks pretty good here. Graves says Bliss's gimmick (he doesn't use that word) can be person who beats up other people's children. You know, because she beat Tessa and now Rachel. 

Bayley is doing an interview in the back but is interrupted by Nia Jax. They have a war of words about their Takeover match, and they're going to have a rematch next week.

Finn Balor Vs Elias Samson: Elias is basically just a jobber now. He's pretty much the new CJ Parker of guy with gimmick who can get heat and lose to incoming guys/stars. Except Parker did eventually seem to become accepted by the NXT crowd, whereas they don't seem to want any part of The Drifter. After the match, Balor cuts another boring promo about being possessed by a demon. Joe marches out talking trash and then Regal comes out and tells them they will have a rematch for the NXT title at the next Takeover show. Joe is pissed because he says he had to jump through hoops to get his shot at the title, whereas Balor is just handed one. Finn dives over the top onto Joe and the show ends with him standing tall. Decent angle.

Episode MVP: Nakamura. He just looks a cut above every time out.

 

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5/18/16

Austin Aries and Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Blake and Murphy: So, Nakamura is Aries's mystery partner. Good bit of booking here, as Nakamura is clearly the guy who has stolen all Aries's thunder, and this sets up a bit of intrigue. Pretty quick match which sees Nakamura pin Murphy with the kinshasa. Aries wanted to tag back in to finish things off, but Nak ignored him. On the other side of things, Murphy worked the whole match for his team, and in fact Blake avoided being tagged in. After the match, Alexa Bliss walked out on her boys, and then Blake followed leaving Murphy alone. That's been a long time coming. One more note on this match: I hate Corey's call of the kinshasa. He clearly thinks this is his signature call, but it's just awful.

Cathy Kelly interviews No Way Jose in the back. He says he that he likes to smile and likes to dance, but above all else he's here to fight. 

Carmella Vs Peyton Royce: Carmella has a promo saying that she's proud of what Big Cass is doing on Raw, and that Enzo will be back soon (I guess this is shortly after his injury against the Vaudevillains). She says that her goal remains becoming NXT women's champion. Peyton is still doing the flower thing. She looks pretty good in this match. Mella gets the win.

We see footage from a live show of Finn Balor and Samoa Joe brawling all over the arena. Then we're in William Regal's office to sign the contract for their Takeover match, which we learn will be a steel cage match. I was just thinking how they haven't done a cage match yet on NXT. 

Alexa tells Blake and Murphy that she's had enough of them embarrassing her, and now she's focusing all her energy on becoming women's champion.

Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa Vs Danny Burch and Rob Ryzin: Ciampa is such a bore. Gargano comes out interacting with the crowd and Ciampa just marches past him all intense. Because he's a serious wrestler, you know? Burch is back and rocking trunks, which looks weird. This is basically a squash win for Gargano and Ciampa.

Nia Jax Vs Bayley: This is much better than the weak match they had at Takeover. I was quite surprised by Jax getting the win here, especially with a simple legdrop. Bayley was selling a leg injury leading into the finish. I thought that Bayley was getting a rematch with Asuka at Takeover, but now it looks like they're running Asuka/Nia instead.

Episode MVP: Shinsuke Nakamura.

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2 hours ago, sydneybrown said:

My mind is blown that Cathy Kelly has been in NXT 3+ years.  Unless that's what she wanted, that's such an opportunity blown on both sides.

 

Cathy Kelley's great.

Edited by The Natural
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5/25/16

We kick off with William Regal in the back telling us that he was going to make Asuka Vs Bayley for Takeover, but that Bayley is not medically cleared to compete, so instead he's made Nia Jax Vs Carmella Vs Alexa Bliss for the number one contendership tonight.

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa Vs TM-61: This is TM-61 making their debut. I've heard the name before, but don't know anything about them. Corey is talking them up as one of the best teams in the world. They do a little insert promo. I guess the TM stands for 'The Mighty', but I can't find out where the 61 comes from. Can anyone clue me in on this? Anyway, these guys look really good in this match. It seems like Nick Miller is the goofy one, whereas Shane Thorne is more of a no-nonsense guy. They both look like good workers, and this is a good match. Gargano and Ciampa pick up the win, but there's a show of respect between all four after the match. I hope TM-61 are sticking around.

Bayley cuts a promo in the back about being injured. Jax comes in to say that she broke Bayley, then Carmella comes in to stick up for her friend. Finally, Alexa comes in and there's a little argument before Nia walks away and says they aren't worth her time.

Austin Aries comes out to cut a promo. He talks about his time in NXT so far and how he seems to have been overlooked. 'Nakamura' chants from the crowd, and Aries gives a knowing little nod. Then Nakamura himself comes out and the two have a face-off. Regal comes out and makes a match between the two for Takeover. Yes, I'm so down for this. I was hoping that would be the outcome.

No Way Jose Vs Johnny Vandal: Squash match for Jose. The crowd playing along with this gimmick actually does make it enjoyable, I have to admit. Afterwards Jose goes to the commentary table and gets Phillips and even Graves to dance with him. Graves is so goddamn douchey. But this is fun.

Nia Jax Vs Carmella Vs Alexa Bliss: This was a typical WWE-style three-way, in all the worse ways that implies. Jax, of course, won, which was a foregone conclusion and really she should have just been announced as the number one contender after beating Bayley. Asuka came out and the two had a staredown. I'm interested to see this match, just to see what Asuka can get out of Jax.

This show also had a hype video for Andrade. Looking forward to him coming in, for sure.

Episode MVP: I liked that opening tag a lot, so it has to be someone from that. I'm gonna go with Thorne.

3 star match: Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa Vs TM-61.

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6/1/16

Go-home for Takeover, which is subtitled The End... Dash and Dawson come out to start the show with a promo about challenging American Alpha for the belts at Takeover. Gargano and Ciampa interrupt and the two teams have a pretty embarrassing back and forth. Of the four of them, only Dawson seems to be any good on the mic really. We end up with a match being made between these teams for tonight.

Tye Dillinger Vs Buddy Murphy: Pretty decent little match here to give Dillinger a win. Tye is in such a weird spot, in that he seems to exist outside of NXT storylines. Like, he can be face or heel depending on who they put him against, he mostly loses but even when he wins he doesn't seem to move up the card at all. He does't have any angles ever. But he's always over.

Corey Graves conducts a sit-down with Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. I was laughing to myself about how, in wrestling, just putting the words 'sit-down' in front of 'interview' suggests something completely different. This isn't just an interview- it's a sit-down interview. Let's throw some chairs into the equation and see where this goes. Anyway, I wasn't really a fan of this. I was expecting more out of Joe, who you'd think would be great in this kind of setting, but the back and forth between the two was terribly stilted.

Austin Aries Vs Elias Samson: Elias on his regular jobber duty. Aries finishes this time with the Last Chancery. I think he's used a different move to end each of his matches so far. He cuts a promo about how he's going to beat Nakamura at Takeover and put the spotlight back where it belongs. This is the match I'm most looking forward to, for sure.

The Andrade vignette airs again, ending with the Takeover logo appearing, so I guess he's debuting next week.

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa Vs The Revival: Really good bit of booking here, by my estimation, to have Gargano and Ciampa go over here after a fun little match. You'd normally want your number one contenders winning before they get their title shot, but the Revival already have a tonne of cred, and now this stamps Gargano and Ciampa as a big deal and potential future number one contenders. The only thing I didn't like so much was the execution of the finish, which had Dawson superplexing Gargano off the top, but Gargano kinda no-selling it to cradle Dawson for the three count. The Revival beat down Ciampa after the match, and were going for the leg-breaker on him (like what they did to Big Cass) before American Alpha made the save. Those two teams then brawled with AA coming out on top, and The Revival retreating. Good stuff all around here.

Finally, we have a contract signing between Asuka and Nia Jax. This is officially the end of NXT's good run of contract signings. This is a typical WWE blah-blah-blah-violence contract signing. Asuka goes for a kick on Nia, but Nia catches her and powerbombs her, leaving her lying.

Decent enough go-home show, highlighted by the tag division. I'm looking forward to Takeover.

Episode MVP: Austin Aries.

 

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36 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

I guess the TM stands for 'The Mighty', but I can't find out where the 61 comes from. Can anyone clue me in on this?

61 is the country code for Australia.  I think a year later they said TM was some wacky Pokemon reference but I forgot that and just associate it with "The Mighty"  They were in NOAH for awhile and did New Japan for a bit before coming to NXT.  Nick quit last year and did New Japan for a bit though not sure what he's up to now.  And Shane is on the weekly shows.

Edited by NikoBaltimore
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  • 2 weeks later...

NXT Takeover: The End...

Andrade 'Cien' Almas Vs Tye Dillinger: So, this is the look they went with for Almas, eh? Someone thought the suspenders and hat with feather was a good idea? I'm not even sure what it's supposed to be. Some kind of dandy? At some point they have to realise too that Dillinger isn't the best guy to put out there with a debuting babyface, since he's so popular. Luckily for Almas, he has enough flashy stuff to win the crowd over, and this ended up being a good showcase match for him. He won with the knees in the corner.

The Revival Vs American Alpha: This was awesome. No surprises there. While their last match was a great classic tag structure match, this is more of a bombfest. AA are channeling the Steiners a bit here, never more so than when Gable busts out the old Rick Steiner spot of being up on opponents shoulders, but catching other opponent coming off the top rope with a belly to belly suplex. It must take great timing to pull that off and make it look so good. And what I liked is that the Revival were going for a move that's actually in their repertoire (their combo powerbomb thing- which actually they botched badly in the last match between the two, which added another layer to this) so it wasn't just like they were going for something out-of-character to set up the counter. Really great finishing stretch with lots of nearfalls before Revival hit the Shatter Machine on Gable to get the win. Really shocked feeling in the arena for the title change, and I do wonder why they went away from AA so quickly (other than maybe they're getting the call-up). After Revival leave, AA regroup and it looks like are going to get the 'losers leave with their heads held high to ovation' ending, but instead they are attacked by the Authors of Pain making their debuts. They can fuck off with this, to be honest. I want to see more AA/Revival matches, not these guys. Paul Ellering looked nicely sinister watching in the aisle though.

Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Austin Aries: So, this isn't the great match I was hoping it would be, but it is very good. Nakamura probably has 70-80% of the fans with him, and they're going wild right from the off here. This seems to be wrestled more in Aries's style than Nakamura's. Aries doesn't really stand up to him the way Sami did. The story for most of the match is that Aries is one step ahead of Shinsuke, keping him grounded and not allowing him to get a head of steam. I really liked the finish to this. Aries hits a Death Valley Driver on the apron, but then goes for broke by going for a dive on Nak, who sidesteps and sends Aries into the barricade. That allows Nakamura to hit his finishing sequence back in the ring (the reverse exploder followed by the Kinshasa) to pick up the win. Really good stuff.

Asuka Vs Nia Jax: This is an awesome performance from Asuka. She just refuses to stop moving forward in this match, so even though Nia is dominating her for most of it, you still feel the sense of danger coming from Asuka, and that each one of the blows she lands is having a cumulative effect on Nia. Really well laid out match actually. Goes under 10 mins, which is all it needed to. This is more like how the Bayley/Nia match should have gone from Dallas (acknowledging the difference in styles between Asuka and Bayley). Asuka wins with a series of strikes. I thought she looked great here.

In the back William Regal is being interviewed and Bobby Roode walks by in the background. Another incredible reaction for Roode's appearance. Regal excuses himself to go and talk to Roode. He must be debuting soon.

Samoa Joe Vs Finn Balor: This ended up being a good match, but it really took a while to draw me in and engage me, probably because of how bored I am by WWE escape the cage rules cage matches. But by the last third of the match maybe they started to get me and you could feel the struggle and the effort. The finish, a muscle buster from the second rope, was pretty crazy too. I thought they were going to have Joe get some kind of fluke falling out the cage bullshit win, but I'll settle for this, even if it was more of a 'this time it was Joe that survived' kind of deal, rather than a true, strong definitive win. Joe put this over by struggling to feet after the match and defiantly holding the belt aloft. The weakest of their televised trilogy, satisfying in the end, but I'm ready to move on to new challengers for Joe now.

Show rating: On reflection, this was a really strong show with two matches being very good. It did feel a bit lacking in the big, epic moments that other Takeovers have provided, but maybe it's just that those shows have spoilt me, and it's not enough to just have a night of good action anymore.  No, I refuse to live like that. This was a somewhat low-key, but very good show. 3 3/4 stars.

Show MVP: Asuka.

3 star match: Samoa Joe Vs Finn Balor.

3 1/2 star match: Austin Aries Vs Shinsuke Nakamura.

3 3/4 star match: American Alpha Vs The Revival.

 

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