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Dolfan Watches Every Wrestlemania On Lockdown


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I hear all the time about the nightmare getting out of MetLife was/is, but I swear, we waited until the show was fully over, came down from the top deck, and we were out of the parking lot less than 15 minutes after getting in the car. 

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16 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I hear all the time about the nightmare getting out of MetLife was/is, but I swear, we waited until the show was fully over, came down from the top deck, and we were out of the parking lot less than 15 minutes after getting in the car. 


If you drove yourself or had a ride you were fine, the problems were for people relying on trains or... god forbid... uber..... 

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53 minutes ago, Nineteen said:


If you drove yourself or had a ride you were fine, the problems were for people relying on trains or... god forbid... uber..... 

Wasn't that more the one a couple years ago than '13? I don't remember hearing about major problems in 2013. Largely because the show didn't go nearly so late and public transportation was still up and running normally.

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WRESTLEMANIA XXX

2014 is such a weird anomaly of a year for the WWE.  The departure (and soft retirement) of CM Punk sent shockwaves throughout the WWE and the industry in general.  Supposedly, the plan for WrestleMania 30 (as much as there was one) was for him and HHH to fight , and Randy Orton to defend the championship against a returning Batista.  Punk's departure left a huge hole in everything but the main event...  but 2014 was not CM Punk's time...  it was Daniel Bryan. 

He'd turned a comedy tag team into one of the hottest teams in the industry, revitalizing his partner's career in the process. He put down the seemingly unbeatable John Cena for the title at a world class match at SummerSlam.  He took what looked to be a middling feud against Bray Wyatt and made it into one of the hottest angles in the industry. 

The whole time though, it always felt like he was being held back.  Famously, mostly by an incredible heel turn by HHH, who pedigreed Bryan immediately after his championship win and all but handed the title to Randy Orton.  And then months and months of promos being told he's too small, not good enough, and never a main eventer.  The "B+ Talent" label really infuriated a lot of people.  To the point that every time he came out, people were chanting "Yes" and whenever he wasn't, people were chanting for him  (or "CM Punk").  

But in January, it finally became clear the looming disaster that was coming.  WrestleMania was being set up for matches that no one had interest in and so things had to change.  Vince, to his credit, finally listened to the fans and decided to give the smallest guy on the roster the push to end all pushes.  To win the World Championship, he'd have to wrestle twice.   

First up, the guy who called him a B+.  

For the intros, HHH does his throne entrance with three masked women surrounding him.  And it struck me, everyone on that stage would eventually be a champion.  The women are Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, and Sasha Banks in the beginning of the "NXT Stars in Papa Hunter's Entrances" trend.  Daniel Bryan's pop is absolutely insane.  Like, I can only imagine what a guy who'd literally wrestled in front of 80 people was thinking when 80,000 were all there to cheer HIM and only him.  

HHH, for his part, is exceptional in his role as the incensed boss you have to fight to beat the game.  Think Mr. X in Streets of Rage. He literally cannot believe this little punk has made it this far, and is infuriated he even has to spend his energy in dealing with this.  But, if he's going to deal with it, he's going to make sure that this issue is dealt with, and with extreme prejudice.   

Looking back from 6 years in the future, it's very clear that Hunter is out there working his ass off to make Daniel look like a fucking megastar. Back in '14 though, boy, was this up for debate.  First of all, no one was quite sure if they were just going to troll out the audience and have HHH win -- and eventually take the title and feud with Batista, or if he'd do "the right thing."  He's really, really making sure the entire crowd is emotionally invested in this guy.  And the crowd is buying everything he's selling.  

I'm watching this and the thought that's running through my head is, as good as Daniel Bryan is, HHH is the one driving the car here.  Bryan is making his offense and comebacks look hard hitting and crisp, and Hunter is selling like he's getting mauled by a 5' 9" bear. And a bear with one arm. 

I should note, that into the pantheon of super-finishers, Daniel Bryan has added his unnamed running knee strike. Common internet parlance called it "The Move That Beat John Cena", but I've always been much more partial to "Knee Plus."   Anyway, the end comes as HHH is trying to Pedigree an almost lifeless corpse of Bryan.  That corpse knows how to block a Pedigree though and HHH is pissed about it.  Instead of letting go and doing something about it, HHH forces the issue, and Bryan reverse the pedigree into a bridge pin.  Hunter rolls out of that, Bryan creates some separation and goes for a Yes kick, Hunter ducks and flips Bryan over... 

KNEE PLUS~

The crowd goes ABSOLUTELY apeshit and Daniel Bryan has qualified for the main event title match.  

Stephanie, who's been dutifully by her husband's side this whole time comes in to "congratulate" Daniel, by slapping him repeatedly.  Before he can do anything about it though, HHH has recovered and knocks down Bryan.  He gives him one last chairshot to his already injured arm just to add to the drama of the main.  

I'll admit, when I started this whole thing, this was one of the matches I wanted to rewatch.  I remember at the time thinking this was fantastic and epic.  I never really appreciated how all in HHH went, though, on selling this undersized guy as an absolute monster (Alexa, play Imagine Dragons.).   Everyone played their roles to perfection and the main event became much more interesting as a result as it was clear, the WWE was going all in on little Bryan Danielson.  But... the drama was still there, and this guy was going to have to pull out another miracle in order to complete the journey.  Would he do it?  Well, you just have to wait and see.

This match was truly a joy to revisit.  

End of Day 91. 

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26 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Triple H has been wildly inconsistent throughout his career, but when he's on, he was capable of not just adequate, but actually mildly enjoyable.

FTFY.

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2 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Famously, mostly by an incredible heel turn by HHH, who pedigreed Bryan immediately after his championship win and all but handed the title to Randy Orton. 

I still remember how visibly pissed off HHH looked during this. It makes me wonder how HHH wanted Bryan's title run to originally go. I still recall the talk of HHH looking like he lost a war after a shouting match with Vince about it.

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DAY 92

Even when they were still a team, people were just waiting for the day they'd break up and start dominating the wrestling scene.  But The Shield needed to get a babyface run first, and having recently turned, they were walking into WrestleMania as faces for the first time. They are here to face The New Age (Old Age!!!!!one1@) Outlaws and Kane.  

The Outlaws, who are in their "NXT Coaches" phase of their career, do their intro to a pretty good nostalgic pop, until they heel it up by not saying "ass" in "Your ass better call somebody!"  Kane is in his "I'm here to put people over" phase.  And put them over he did.  

The Shield completely annihilate the Outlaws and Kane.  Like they got zero offense and the Shield look like mad dog killers in destroying the old guard in less than 3 minutes.  Billy Gunn eats the Triple Powerbomb -- which apparently gave him legit internal bleeding.  

And of course, JBL gives away the metaphor -- The Shield and the wrestlers of the 2010's are burying the Attitude Era once and for all.  

Good.  

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The skull-masks that the Shield wore to the ring before the match very utmost bad-ass! It took me a few years to find one, but eventually, I did. 2020 has given me more chances to actually wear it than ever before, but this certainly not the way I wanted that to come about.

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The Inaugural Andre Battle Royal is up now as everyone on the (men's) roster now gets a Mania payday.  Only Sheamus and Big Show get an intro though. Hmm... Sus.

Now, there's WAY too many people in there for me to accurately call this or give any thoughts other than, holy shit, he was there for this?  

The participants are: Big E, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, Fandango, Alberto Del Rio, Titus O'Neil, Christian, Sheamus, Big Show, Mark Henry, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal, Drew McIntyre, Brodus Clay, Darren Young, Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio, R-Truth, Santino Marella, The Great Khali, Zack Ryder, and Sin Cara as the Beaver.  

Bunch of cute spots all around, but it's not even really worth mentioning it until we're down to our Final 5:  Kofi, ADR, Sheamus, Cesaro, and Show.  Kofi looks like he's going to be eliminated, but in a work of absolute witchcraft, he lands back first on the floor, but his feet are still on the ring steps.  Even 6 years later, I have zero idea how he managed to pull that off, dude is a freak of nature.  

Anyway, he gets back in, but is eliminated almost immediately after, which... in a word, sucks balls. Cesaro and Show have paired off, and so have Sheamus and ADR.  Now rewatching this, I know Cesaro is going to win, but what I didn't realize at the time, was it looks like there was a MASSIVE botch.  Sheamus has Del Rio over the top, but his own momentum, (and I can't tell if Del Rio was helping or hurting) but they get tangled up and both of them go out.  That leaves a very confused looking Big Show and Cesaro there.  

If this was a botch, then I'm guessing Sheamus was supposed to win.  But Show quickly calls the spot, and Cesaro re-enacts the Hogan/Andre bodyslam, and out goes Big Show.  

Cesaro wins his first really, really big match.  Again, I'm not sure about that at all, but it sure as hell looked like someone fucked up bad there. 

And speaking of fuck ups, Bray Wyatt is up next.

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There has never been someone I can recall that has been given as many chances to take that big step up as Bray Wyatt.  And it's amazing how every time he's given his chance, he's fallen flat on his face. I'm honestly not sure if the promise of what Bray Wyatt can be will ever match up to the reality of what Windham Rotunda can deliver, but it's amazing to see the career keep going after so many stumbles. 

We begin the Bray Wyatt WrestleMania oeuvre with John Cena. After last year's "triumphant victory" over the Rock, he made it to SummerSlam as champ, where he had his soul kneed out of his body by Daniel Bryan.  He's transitioning to his new role as gatekeeper to the upper card, and his first real assignment is Bray and his family.  (And for the record, it should never be forgotten how bad a miss the WWE had by not pushing Luke Harper/Brodie Lee to the moon.) 

As part of his entrance, Bray has voodoo dancers and Mark Crozer and the Rels play "Broken Out In Love" in awesome plague doctor masks that hit a little bit too close to home in 2020.  Did you know the reason they had those bird-face masks back in the day was to be able to burn incense and/or myrrh in the beak, so the smoke could overwhelm the stench of decaying bodies?  Fun!  

Cena comes out to mostly boos... To be expected as Bray is the (kayfabe) hometown boy.  Also, the fact that Bray the Family Leader was just an absurdly cool character.  He has that ability to cut a promo with a unique cadence, vocabulary, and charisma that MAKES you pay attention to him.  Even if he's just spouting nonsense, it just sounds good.  And at this point, the crowd is very clearly behind this guy and wants him to succeed, so not only are they cheering, they're singing "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands", and waving their arms like he's a revival preacher.  

(Ugh, just remembering how much hope I had for him.)

So the story is Bray has been messing with Cena's head and saying Cena's not the happy-go-lucky guy, he's a monster.  So the story just begins with Bray on his knees asking John to destroy him and Cena acting confused and disturbed. I thought at the time, and still do now, that Cena should have laid an unholy beatdown on either Harper or Rowan in the lead up here, to show to the world that Cena could be pushed over the edge... unfortunately, that never happened.  So they do "standard John Cena match" which is fine and oop... there's Bray acting like a spider.

Spider+Walk.gif

Frankly, this is a good ass moment, and for those newcomers who've never seen Bray, ti's a legit freak out.  Cena sold it extremely well. Also, note the camera work was actually PERFECT for this spot.  And this is already in the OVERLY SHAKING camera era that we are slowly moving away from (thankfully).  

The more words I put down, the more I realize, the main thing I thought of as I rewatched was just, disappointment.  Cena did his part fine, but Bray at times looked legit nervous and couldn't get out of the way of himself.  The highspots are done very well, but everything inbetween seems off  just a little.  I can't quite place my finger on it.  

The end is of course, as infamous as it gets because Cena kicked out of a flash Sister Abagail, causing Wyatt to freak out and come out of the ring, grab a chair, and BEG him to smash him with a chair.  Now this should have gone one of two ways: 1) Cena finally breaks and smashes Wyatt and gets DQ'ed. (Leads to an eventual redemption match later on.) or 2) Cena refuses (or hits someone else, as is what happend) turns around and walks into a Sister Abagail for the pin.   Under NO circumstances should he win though.  

So of course, Cena hits Rowan, escapes a Sister Abagail, and AA's Bray back to the midcard. 

In hindsight, it's as baffling a decision as you can get.  My guess is Vince didn't think Bray was ready for upper card status yet, and lord did this outcome fuck up his trajectory up the card.  The fact that the feud continued for months and he just kept losing to Cena made it even worse. All that said, as spectacular as he was during the drama spots, he was just kind of there for the rest.  

Eh, maybe he wasn't ready.  We'll never really know. 

End of Day 92.

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1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

There has never been someone I can recall that has been given as many chances to take that big step up as Bray Wyatt.  And it's amazing how every time he's given his chance, he's fallen flat on his face.

 

No no no no no no. That bold part is wrong. Every time he's given his chance, his legs are cut out from under him. You yourself said the end of this match was badly booked. You can't put that on Bray.  

Bray has been given a lot of lead-up-to-opportunities, but they just didn't know what to do with him to pay it off. Losing clean to Cena at WrestleMania? Two badly-booked Hell in a Cell matches? And most deadly of all, a feud with Randy fucking Orton in the 2010s? That's all on the writers.

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3 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Also, the fact that Bray the Family Leader was just an absurdly cool character.  He has that ability to cut a promo with a unique cadence, vocabulary, and charisma that MAKES you pay attention to him.  Even if he's just spouting nonsense, it just sounds good.

That sounds like a good opportunity for me to segue into one of my favourite things, bitching about other fans' bitching. In this case, the not infrequent complaints about the fact that Bray's promos were ultimately just nonsense that sounded cool when you first heard it. Were these people expecting him to be giving sound, well-thought-out reasons why joining his family is a good idea? Reasons that would actually stand up to rational analysis? It's a fucking cult! There are no such reasons! Portentous-sounding nonsense is exactly what the character should be spouting!

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I just don't think Bray is good enough bell to bell to be a tippy top guy in this era where ring work actually matters.

He's an un-fucking-believable promo, and could've been a God in the territory days when he could leave town before his schtick got stale, right after selling out every building on the loop against the top star.

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As far as guys who's whole gimmick is "Being Jake the Snake Roberts" (who aren't actually him), Raven was better at it than Bray Wyatt.

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DAY 93 - ONE RIDE, ONE MATCH!

Yes.  He deserved it.

I'm going to just get that out of the way right away.  Brock Lesnar was and is worthy of breaking the STREAK~. Lesnar is a once in a lifetime talent.  He has a terrifying level of athleticism, he can wrestle all styles from brawling to technical to comedy, he understands psychology, he might have some of the best movements and anticipation of movements I have ever seen.  His main weakness is his talking, which he is actually fine at, but when you have an S-Tier level talker like Paul Heyman doing your talking for you, it just doesn't matter.  He is, frankly, the best professional wrestler I have ever seen. 

Now, I am basing that statement based on what I have seen.  I fully admit not to know the roster of Mexican and/or Japanese wrestlers out there. So, if Misawa or Tanahashi or El Santo or Blue Demon can claim to be better, I'm sorry, I cannot say I'm familiar enough with their work to form an intelligent opinion.  What I do know is, if you're going to have the Undertaker lose at WrestleMania:  1) there had better be a talent worthy of it, and 2) there had better be a good reason. 

The reason?  Well, Brock has spent the last year or two wrecking shit and is about to ascend to Special Final Boss status.  Think SSF2T's Akuma.  And to get to Akuma, you have to not only win, but you have to do so impressively, just to get his attention. Well, what's the best way to make your killer ace-heel into the God-tier heel you need him to be?   Yup.  

Onto the match itself.  It's funny, looking back on it, this weird sense of calm is palpable through the crowd.  Yeah, Brock is a murderous animal, but the Undertaker will take care of shit because, there's no way he's losing.  Even as Brock makes his way down to the ring the crowd is booing, it's almost performative.  Yeah, rewatching this and knowing what's coming is actually more surreal than I thought it'd be.  Taker's got 21 coffins on the top of the entranceway, with 21 names on them, and though I seemed to remember them skipping Punk, he's there too.  

So the match itself begins and it starts out even kiel.   Both guys are fighting for control, and it settles into a standard late-Taker match rhythm.  Somewhat suddenly, and kind of out of nowhere, the mood kind of changes. Brock takes over about a third of the way into the match, and then... never lets go.   

That's what's different here.  This is a heel dominant match, without the big babyface comeback.  You knew shit was in trouble when Taker went for Old School and not only did it not work (twice!) but the second time he did it, he got F5'ed.  Brock's almost video game/cartoonish dominance has the crowd... hushed?  Like they know something's up, but it's not possible that it will end this way... this is the Undertaker.  

Yeah well, no.  Taker gives Brock ALL of his best shots... the chokeslam, the Last Ride powerbomb, and a tombstone.  And none of them put down this monster.  And after a while, and after he's thrown all he can at this beast... he just runs out of things to do.  The end comes as Taker is attempting to mount any kind of comeback he can, and has Brock set up for a Tombstone.   Brock continues his rotation though, and now has Taker in position for the Tombstone... but Brock knows that's not his strength.  So, he quickly adjusts and powers up Taker into a Fireman's Carry.   F5 number 3.  

Twenty One... and One. 

The crowd is shocked. I see that idiot "Brock Lesnar Guy" in the crowd, and even he can't believe what he just saw.  I see a couple of true believers, but 70000+ have just gone so quiet, you can hear Paul Heyman screaming "YOU DID IT!  YOU DID IT! OH MY GOD YOU DID IT!"  Even, Brock himself cannot believe he's just ended the streak (for a second). The ring announcer waited a solid 30-60 seconds before he announced Brock as the winner.  Even his music didn't start playing for a while after that.  It's like stages of grief happening here.  

And in basically the most underrated moment of his fucking career, Brock is slowly walking to the back, looks back at Taker, and fucking winks. It's subtle, yet overt, heeling like that wink, that make Brock incredible.  

Taker finally sits up, and the crowd gives him the respectful, thankful applause he deserved.  I, along with probably everyone in the Superdome, thought this was it for Undertaker and he'd hang it up, because there was nowhere else to go from here. (Did I mention that I'm sure the Survivor Series "Farewell to the Undertaker" is kicking off his Mania 2021 match? - 7 full years after this...)

I think the moment of the Streak ending has lost a lot of significance because of the continuation of Taker's career.  I won't dispute his right to make money or wrestle for however  long he wants.  I do question the ending of the streak if that was always the idea though (especially with the horrifically bad series of matches after this).  

That being said...  the streak died on April 6, 2014.  Brock Lesnar buried it.  Brock Lesnar earned it.  

Brock Lesnar deserved it. 

End of Day 93. 

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21 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I just don't think Bray is good enough bell to bell to be a tippy top guy in this era where ring work actually matters.

He's an un-fucking-believable promo, and could've been a God in the territory days when he could leave town before his schtick got stale, right after selling out every building on the loop against the top star.

Basically this. I also think the sad truth is I think Bray is a fantastic brawler in the limited times we’ve seen it, but WWE brawling in the modern era is just setting up garbage spots and it fucking sucks.

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Whether it was the concussion, or coming back from whichever surgery too soon, or just a bad day at the office, it'll always be a shame that Lesnar/Taker wasn't a better match. Especially since they managed two very good matches a year and change later.

1 hour ago, The Man Known as Dan said:

Basically this. I also think the sad truth is I think Bray is a fantastic brawler in the limited times we’ve seen it, but WWE brawling in the modern era is just setting up garbage spots and it fucking sucks.

Yeah. Crazy, blood dripping down his face, trying to maim, say, Lawler or a Von Erich, worried if he can get out of the building alive... That's who Bray Wyatt could've been 35 years ago, man.

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I also think Bray should always be the third man in a trio.  Who only gets in the ring when you have earned his ire.   He is even really good in tags to add some extra spice a thrown together team.

 

As for Brock. He absolutely deserved the streak.  And it played into the hbk and hhh matches with the idea that defending the streak was draining taker if his powers. Which allowed kane to steal them (that might of been the year prior).

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Bray bleeding buckets in the middle of a caged ring as he pleads with Dusty Rhodes to spare him after months of psychologically torturing Dusty would print money in 1981. Alas.

Hot take: HHH's best match was that Daniel Bryan match. That was the first time that he targeted a limb and was really interesting doing it. Adding an edge of irritated ruthlessness to the "methodical technical wizard" schtick really worked for him. 

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The Wyatts tormenting Dusty for a year only to finally get their comeuppance in a War Games match with Bray playing JJ Dillon?  Oh yeah.  Getting into the ring for gimmick brawls with a top face who is on the cusp? Yes Please.  Wrestling week in week out on TV? nooooooo. 

 

Although when he wrestled as Funhouse Bray against Miz I thought Miz was the worst part of that match.

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DAY 94

AJ Lee.  Boy, talk about a talent that was wasted in their era.  AJ's the best female wrestler in WWE in 2014 and it's a pretty far drop to second. This is her debut as a wrestler in WrestleMania, and she's walking into a 13 opponent match.  They are:   Aksana, Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Cameron, Emma, Eva Marie, Layla, Naomi, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae, and Tamina Snuka as the she-Beaver. 

The story is that AJ has pissed off Vicki Guerrero, so she's sent the entire women's roster to beat her.   This is basically a proxy for a) the Bella twins to destroy her, and b) all the women to get a Mania payday.  

The fact of the matter though, is that the crowd is in no mood for any of what they're seeing.  The Undertaker's streak ending is still very fresh in their mind, so these women could be having the greatest match of all time, and the crowd would be completely silent.  Reality is though, the match they're putting on ain't half bad.  

I mean, it's a gigantic clusterfuck because who the fuck books 14 people in a one fall to a finish match, but... they're doing the best they can.  The crowd actually comes alive for a little bit when the Bellas do duel tope suicidas.  But then they're too dumb to have one lay down for the other, so they start fighting.   Of course, AJ sneaks in, with some help gets them both out, and then locks Naomi in her submission finisher the Black Widow.  And it's tappa tappa tappa.  

I should note, JBL and King are both being horse's asses (more so) during this match because... *shocker* AJ cared about her craft.  

Ugh, what I wouldn't have given to see AJ/Bayley, AJ/Becky, AJ/Asuka, and on and on and on...   Oh well.  I'm glad she seems very happy in retirement. 

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Actually AJ did have a short match against Bayley in NXT. This was around the time where Bayley was in super fangirl mode and not yet next level version. But I'd be down for her having that epic match with her and the others. 

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