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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. The beatdown was way too long. When you get to the point where three jobbers have to be tossed out, you're pushing the limits of common sense. Also, do you mean to tell me that Jarrett's regular tag team partner Travis took that long to get to ringside knowing what a potential jackpot Jeff had stepped into? There are gallant babyfaces, and then there are stupid babyfaces. Dallas is overpopulated with the latter at the moment. Percy has a great time with his chicken puns. That's the way to get Taylor over as a threat, guys: Remind the audience that he just got through being Vince's most ridiculous cartoon character to date. Good point by Loss about Jarrett calling Akbar "Ak". Still, everyone with half a brain knew that the guy wasn't really an Arab, hell, his Texas accent was as thick as pea soup. What's the difference what he's called as long as the audience knows damn right well that he isn't what he says he is? Sometimes maintaining kayfabe simply isn't worth the effort.
  2. If the date on this is actually 8/18, Taylor hadn't shown up in Dallas yet; he's Akbar's mystery man, as we'll see a couple of segments down the road. The fans in Dallas finally get a taste of the intense babyface Lawler that Memphis has loved for so long. Most of these same fans have probably wanted Ak gone since he showed up, and I can see why they would latch on to the King, even after all the despicable things he's done in the last couple of years. With Chris the only Von Erich active in the USWA and Adams busy with Austin, Lawler and Jarrett are their only hope. The King's just a bit edgier than he usually is back home, but that's better than raiding a sixth-grade jokebook like he has so often before. Devastation Inc. is in for a peck of trouble!
  3. The last time I saw Lawler in Texas, he was a heel giving relationship advice to John Tatum. Now, he's a babyface fighting Skandor Akbar. Talk about a 180. But if anyone can pull it off, it's the Kingfish. I liked Jarrett sticking up for his fellow Memphian. I know we'll see plenty more of this in '91, but this is sort of the germ of the Tennessee/Texas feud, only I doubt anyone's rooting for Texas, since Akbar's representing it. Jarrett tries to outnegotiate him by putting Lawler's suspension on the line, but Ak's too smart for that, at least for now. I like Jarrett coming out and negotiating with Ak and Young instead of picking a fight and getting left laying. Finally, a babyface with brains in Dallas! We know the match will be signed soon enough, and I'll be interested to see what happens. By the way, Craig's still coming along nicely; I loved how he reacted to Akbar's cigar smoke and his subtle attempts at badgering Ak into signing the Jarrett/Young match. We'll make a broadcaster out of you yet, Craig!
  4. Someone commented in another thread that Adams is carrying this feud, and that may be true from a ring general standpoint, but characterwise, he looks like more and more of a schmuck every week. Seriously, can't the babyfaces get even one victory, verbal or physical, that isn't a fluke? Now they're teasing a heel turn from Toni, of all people. The heels' performances are fun to watch in and of themselves, and you can see that both Austin and Jeannie have stardom looming dead ahead, but in totality, this angle stinks right now. Adams is rapidly crossing the line into bumbling idiot territory if he isn't there already, and the best he has for backup is Chris Von Erich. Yeah, that really inspires confidence, at five foot five and a hundred and thirty pounds. Interesting that they mentioned Sunshine by name here. I don't think I've heard her name in a broadcast of any sort since her aborted Dallas return in '86. Nice to hear Joe Pedicino on color. He's not exactly polished at live commentary, but once he is, he'll be this promotion's best broadcaster. Craig's finally starting to develop a few reactions other than plowing ahead with what's on the format sheet, though. I liked how he kept trying to rip the mic out of Percy's hand while he was raving. I'm assuming that the female was Joe's wife Boni Blackstone, and she's become my favorite female broadcaster ever after just one appearance. Of course, her competition is Mike McGuirk and Missy Hyatt, so let's not make that out as a landmark achievement. Anyway, if you enjoy watching the evolution of Austin, this feud is a gold mine. If you're like me and watching this for overall content, there's not a whole lot of goodness here. As I've seemingly said a hundred times, the faces need to pull their socks up in a hurry and get in some payback in order to keep my interest.
  5. Now I know why Ole hasn't been out with the Horsemen lately; it's so blatantly obvious that it's him doing the Scorpion voiceover that it's pitiful, even with voice distortion. He even uses his own pet phrases, such as "I'll tell you what". If Ole had been out cutting promos with the Hiorsemen as well as doing the Scorpion's voice, even the marks would have known it was him, which would have killed the angle absolutely dead. Actually, that wouldn't have been a bad reveal, come to think of it, although it shouldn't have come this soon in any case. The clues could have been blown off as red herrings, the fake Scorpions as assassins paid by Ole to cripple Sting and make it easier for him to take the title. Eventually, though, he runs out of money and time, and is forced to reveal himself at Starrcade, where no one can believe that it's actually him, and that this is the way he's finally chosen to take his shot at the World title after all these years, in the twilight of his career. When push comes to shove, though, he has nothing left to give, and Sting wins with ease. It might actually work better if he did this completely on his own, with no Horsemen involvement (except, of course, to pick up his broken carcass after the final battle). Would it have still been a bad match, maybe even an embarrassment? More than likely, since Ole was shot physically, or at least far from his peak. But it would have made a hell of a lot more sense than what we got. I wonder if he ever thought of something like this.
  6. We had two things that didn't make sense here: Sid's run-in and Missy Hyatt. I'm guessing that they wanted to portray Sid as an out-of-control monster who would go through anyone to get to Sting, but Sting's about to be so wrapped up in the Scorpion that it feels like a waste of an angle, since they aren't going to feud the Horsemen with either Pillman and Zenk or the MX. I wouldn't have minded seeing either Arn or Barry team with Sid against one of those two teams, though. As for Missy, it's amazing how little she contributes to broadcasts as a color person. She was terrible when they tried her in the UWF, and she's just as awful here. Plus, her supposedly winsome smile makes her look like a clueless bubblehead when JR's trying to sell a supposedly serious situation. Once again, I ask: They depushed Nancy Sullivan to accommodate this? The shame of it is, she'd have been a much better addition to the whole Lawler-Dundee/Gilbert-DWB mess in Memphis than either Tessa or Kim, because playing the vixen is the one thing she can do well. I know that Turner could pay her a lot more than Jerry Jarrett, so that's why she probably stayed with WCW, but at some point even she had to realize that whatever professional talent she had was being wasted.
  7. We've heard exactly nothing from Luger, in fact. All the while, Flair does his best promo work this year. Were there no Luger promos from around this time worthy of inclusion, or did he just not have much to say about this match?
  8. I'm honestly not noticing Flair's hair or his face very much at this point, so either I'm going blind or it's just not that big a deal. Another great promo by Flair for the Clash match, and I can hear the glee in his voice as he vows to haunt Luger the way Luger haunted him while he was World champion. Other than Sid's not-so gentle fixing of JR's tie, the other Horsemen contribute nothing. Where was Ole? He was getting as much mic time as Flair while Flair held the big belt, but now that Flair's taken a step backward he's nowhere to be found.
  9. Another great promo from Flair. Most people would see him challenging for the U.S. title as a step down, and it is, but Flair makes it seem like the best title you can have if you're not the World champion, which isn't the way they handled that title a lot of the time. For once, a football reference on WCW programming actually ties into wrestling, as Flair compares his situation to that of the San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks, with Flair as the Joe Montana-style "old pro" and Sting as the Steve Young-style "young punk". Only problem is, "Young" has not only made the team, he's got the trophy! I get Flair's point, however. I don't really know what to make of the Scorpion stuff until I actually see some of it, but at this early stage it seems like they might have had the idea of making the whole thing a Horseman mind game, which seems infinitely better than what ended up happening. As usual, Corny has the line of the night: "If you were any more open (about your lifestyle), you'd be in jail."
  10. Are they trying to babyface Flair again or what? This should have gone the exact opposite way; Orndorff and Luger or some combination of the DWA should have shown up and run Flair off, not the other way around. It's almost like they're conditioning the fans not to accept Sting as champion so the inevitable switch back to Flair will seem like a welcome relief. It almost makes me wonder if Ole really wanted the belt on Sting at all; remember, it was Flair who was booking at the time it was determined that Sting would not only win the belt from Flair, but "receive the torch" from him. It was well known that Flair promised the belt to Sting once he returned from injury, and Ole might have felt trapped into honoring that promise against his will and/or better judgement. If that's really the case, it's one of the biggest shames in WCW history, because anyone can tell that Sting has what it takes to be a great champion, albeit not quite on Flair's level. By the way, the Meadowlands rematch Sting referenced at the end of the segment took place on 8/24. Sting pinned Flair in 26:07 despite interference from Arn and Windham (according to Graham Cawthon's site).
  11. Was Garvin hurt here? It's odd that he wouldn't tag in even once during a televised match. I don't like the Southern Boys taking a step down like this. After their match with the Midnights at the Bash, they should have been chasing the US belts, not a trophy that they acknowledge doesn't mean a thing to them or anyone else. I'm starting to think that Hayes and Garvin should have dropped the Freebird name. Their wardrobe and style of working is so different from anything associated with the "real" Freebirds that there's really no comparison. They're supposed to be redneck Southern buttkickers, not half-assed makeup-wearing glamrockers in spangled tights. And they're supposed to be a three-man team, not a two-man team. You're telling me they couldn't have recruited a third full-time Freebird? What about Tommy Rich, just to use one example? The photo of Gigante and Turner looks legit enough to me. Didn't Turner Sports originally recruit Jorge Gonzales with the idea of signing him to an NBA deal with the Hawks, only to find out that his knees were shot?
  12. The best promo I've seen from Flair in quite a while. This is how he used to do it before the big matches four or five years ago: quietly confident, sure of his place in the sport regardless of whether he was a champion or not, and ready to make the poor soul who was stepping into the ring with him pay dearly for the honor of beating him. He's lost that as time has gone on and he's gotten caught up in the Horsemen and their group dynamics, and it's nice to see it return here. Luger/Flair needed a fresh twist in order to avoid feeling stale and slapped together, and now we have it. Tremendous work.
  13. If you're going to do an angle like this, film it. The promos after the fact are decent, but it's hard to get fans emotionally involved in an angle that they never saw take place, even if it involves Sting, Luger, and the Horsemen. We don't even know which Horsemen actually did the beating; it's almost like they developed the angle in the back ten minutes before a taping started, then told Luger to sell it as best he could. An inexcusable lack of detail from Ole, who should know exactly how an angle like this is supposed to go. They're starting to need Dusty back in Atlanta in a big way.
  14. It's like I said in the thread for the Sting/Flair title change: they want to keep Flair as the major player he deserves to be and push some new blood for the World title situation at the same time, so Sting gets Sid while Flair and Luger, a proven money match, gets freshened up with Flair being the challenger for once. Not a bad idea if they'd stuck with it, but I notice that the Black Scorpion makes his first appearance at the end of the month. Nice work from Sid as well. Set or no set, Corny pours his all into these segments. I love his closing line here: "Terrible crime problem we have in this country", delivered in that wonderfully smarmy, sarcastic voice. He's got the best talk show segment in the business right now, bar none.
  15. Okay, one at a time. Rude: Nice comparison of his quest to that of Rocky against Apollo Creed. That's a lot more relevant than Warrior's ramblings about the Founding Fathers. Heenan brings up the sequels to Rocky, and both he and Rude say that there will be no rematches, as indeed there weren't. I'm not sure why they made Warrior's inexperience in cages a selling point of the match; I'm sure he's been in cage matches a few times before this. No mention of Rude's training regimen; they seem to have abandoned that aspect of the angle entirely. Warrior: The joke he told wasn't too bad, but his delivery absolutely kills the humor. Why they insisted on trying to humanize this guy I have no clue, as he stinks at normal. The patriotic references fit someone like Hogan, but isn't he from Parts Unknown? Why would he give a crap about our Founding Fathers in that case? Okay, so I'm nitpicking, but Warrior doesn't need to defend the country against the evil foreign menace that is Ravishing Rick Rude. Someone else brought this up in another thread, but it's almost like they're setting up his feud with Sarge already (in addition to the usual shoehorn job they do with historical references in whatever town they visit). Nice facts and figures surrounding the building of the cage. I love how Rod tried to analyze the aftermath of Hogan/Quake as fairly as he could, acknowledging that Hogan had scored a huge victory but also giving Quake tolerance for his ability to withstand pain and punishment. This is the Piper that was so good with Gordon Solie on WTBS back in his Georgia days. Dusty: This is a classic Crockett promo if ever there was one. It's a shame he's waited this long to turn loose, until his final WWF feud which he would lose in such convincing fashion, as was brought up in an earlier thread. Still, better late than never. Amazingly enough, this is his final run as an active wrestler coming up, as he'd mostly be behind the scenes and in the booth when he returned to Atlanta. Enjoy the Dream while you can! Quake: Nothing much, except that he's targeting Bossman as well as Hogan. It's amazing that Dino Bravo, an active wrestler who's a terrible heel promo, did a better interview than Jimmy Hart, who at one time was one of the best mic men in the sport. Unfortunately, that run in Memphis ended five years before, and as I've said, I'm attributing more and more of that run to Lawler acting as Jimmy's straight man and foil the more I see of him on the stick everywhere else. In other words, anyone can look good threatening the King. One more thing, Quake: We know you're an honest-to-God, no-fooling earthquake come to life, so you don't have to keep proving it by bouncing up and down in your interviews anymore. Hogan: I liked the preview of coming attractions, complete with the promise of "earthquake-proof" buildings. We also have the unveiling of Hulkamania's fourth "demandment". Let's see, God has ten commandments, Hogan needs only four. I guess we know who the real higher power is in the universe, don't we, Vince? On the other hand, he doesn't yet list "Believe in Hulk Hogan" as one of the "demandments", so I guess you can train, say your prayers, take your vitamins, believe in yourself, and still think that Hulk Hogan stinks. If you say so, Hulkster. What's of more interest to me is that they've still got tentative plans for Hogan/Warrior II, as Hogan states that he's looking to once again be the number one contender for the World title. So you had an almost-guaranteed six-figure crowd at the LA Memorial Coliseum and you gave it up for Hogan/Slaughter, which didn't even fill the LA Sports Arena? That's got to be the most idiotic line of thinking in WWF history. No wonder the business started sliding downhill. (By the way, the second most idiotic line of thinking was skipping Hogan/Flair at Mania VIII. The hell with Sid and the ship he rode in on; let him walk if he doesn't like being pushed aside in favor of the one dream match everyone wanted to see. I don't know what finish you would use, but get the match signed and figure it out from there. More to come on this subject when I get to '92.)
  16. The Savage/Dusty match and the announcements for Sherri/Sapphire that began the reveal of Sapphire's benefactor should have been on here. We get Dusty running after the car and a short comment from Teddy, but not even a good shot of Sapphire in her new fur coat. If I hadn't remembered seeing it live, I would have been extremely disappointed at what a gyp the angle was, not knowing that I'd only seen the last few seconds of it. You fell asleep at the switch, gentlemen. I remember being shocked at the reveal when I saw it live, because I figured that Teddy would have no use for Sapphire as a girlfriend. I would have liked to have seen at least one appearance by Sapphire in Teddy's corner during a match, but she wasn't exactly a classic manager or valet type, so maybe it was best that she just disappeared. I don't even think she was on TV once after this. As for AJ's comments about the WWF being lazy about transitioning back and forth between feuds, wrestling has always had a place for personal issues. Granted, some of the WWF's were flimsier than those in other organizations, but not every good angle in wrestling has to be athletically based. There's more to this business than the pursuit of championships, especially in the WWF, where only a select handful are deemed worthy of even thinking about contending for them. Did anybody honestly think that either Teddy or Dusty were legitimate contenders for Warrior or Kerry by now? I know I sure didn't. So they wrestle for pride and money, and part of pride is accruing friends and possessions, such as Sapphire, Virgil, and the Million Dollar Belt. It seemed straightforward enough to me, and it still does. I liked Piper's line about Dusty having to lay down in front of the limo in order to stop it. If I remember correctly, he also believed that Dusty didn't show enough fight against Savage because he was too distracted by Sapphire's absence, which led to his line at the very beginning of the clip about being disappointed in Dusty. It almost seemed that Rod was trying to channel Jesse here, only to either decide himself or be told by Vince afterward that they wanted a pure babyface commentator. We could have used Mean Gene instead of Mooney as the interviewer here. I know Sean was trying for objectivity, but he came across as more than a little robotic.
  17. One last set of promos for the big card. Jake was the best of the bunch, as always. You believe him when he says that he's not scared of two hundred pounds of Harlem sewer rats, which is quite a feat. Warrior's a lot more on point than usual, as noted above, but he sounds weird speaking normally, especially since everything else in his delivery and manner still screams "Maniac!" Bad News threatens Bossman with the Ghetto Blaster, Savage and Sherri are delightfully insane, and the Demos, whose promos have gone downhill since their turn, are adequate and nothing more, not that they were promo aces beforehand. I guess you weren't allowed to be injured in the WWF unless it happened in front of the cameras as part of an angle. Come on, Vince, do you honestly expect us to believe that even a "professional model" like Martel would bail on a pay-per-view bout to go to a freakin' fashion show, especially when he's known about SummerSlam for months and had signed to wrestle his former partner on the card? They didn't even use this to build heat on Martel for the future; in fact. I don't believe it was ever brought up again. Bossman hadn't been officially added to Hogan's corner yet, I guess, as Gene mentions that he'll be "all alone" at SummerSlam. Finally, the phaseout of Kerry Von Erich begins, as he's simply known as "The Texas Tornado" here. I guess it wouldn't have been fair for Kerry to have his name and Curt Hennig not to have his.
  18. I think you mean 8/18, Pete. Piper took over for Jesse on Superstars with the 8/25 show. Good fired-up promo by Hogan here, again talking vividly about his feelings while he was out. He again promises to respond to every card and letter the Hulkamaniacs sent him. Bossman comes out and does his usual interview about "hard time". I love Bossman as a worker, but most of his interviews were more one-note and repetitive than usual, even for the WWF. It's not like we could have ever forgotten that he was a former prison guard with the uniform he was wearing plain as day. Did every single sentence in every single promo he ever did have to contain a law enforcement reference? Even Terry Taylor's chicken and egg jokes while he was the Red Rooster weren't in every last sentence he spoke. Almost, but not quite. I was looking for Hogan to acknowledge Brother Love's Lone Ranger reference, as talking about other TV shows and pop culture events (except, of course, for the situation in the Persian Gulf) was happening less and less often in the WWF at the time. Alas, he was in a world of his own, as usual. As for Heenan being on commentary, one of two things probably happened: 1) if the commentary was done in the studio, the segment might have needed heavy post-production, and Heenan was available to lay down a commentary track, while Piper was probably home in Portland or 2) if the commentary was done live, the segment may have been taped on 8/7 in Springfield, MA (where Challenge was taped) instead of on 8/8 in Providence, RI (where Superstars was taped). Vince filled in for Gino at the Springfield taping, as Gino was having a toe amputated.
  19. The main reason they called Kerry "The Texas Tornado" was because his well-known nickname was "The Modern-Day Warrior". That obviously wouldn't fly in a promotion where the Ultimate Warrior was on top. It's the same reason why the Road Warriors were known exclusively as the Legion of Doom. (These names also had the advantage of being able to be trademarked easily by the WWF.) Was it stupid? Well, going without a nickname at that time and in that place wasn't a realistic option, so that name was as good as any other. The sad part came when they stopped referring to him as Kerry Von Erich at all on a national basis. It was just further evidence that most of the WWF wrestlers weren't supposed to be human beings and had no reason to exist outside of their gimmick. I think the WWF's promo style and the coaching he undoubtedly got helped Kerry here. Yes, the constant puns were excruciating, but no more so than listening to him stumble, fumble, and bumble in the USWA. At least he had a consistent message to deliver and could have parts reshot if he screwed up. It might not have fit the way things were "supposed" to be done, but it made for a more consistent TV show, which is what the WWF was all about. Didn't think we'd hear from Jesse again. He supports the heels right to the end with his complaints about Kerry getting a shot at Curt despite having almost no track record, and as usual, he has a point in his own way. Still, this is a big upgrade over whoever else we would have gotten in the wake of Beefcake's accident. I have no earthly idea who else could have taken the spot, since all the other faces had their own matches and/or major roles to play. I guess maybe Piper would have sufficed in a pinch, but who would have done commentary in that case?
  20. Corny managing Flair in the WWF? That would make sense, because both of them could have come in as invaders from the NWA, whether that organization was mentioned or not. Considering what else Corny had going on at the time, which was nothing much, I wonder why he turned them down? I know he reveres Flair, so it wasn't a personal issue between them.
  21. I agree about Jimmy. He did more behind the scenes writing and producing entrance music than he did in front of the camera. The only exceptions to this rule were the Hart Foundation (who, as we found out later, didn't really need him to get over after all) and Honky. Jimmy really was indispensable to Honky's act in my opinion, especially compared to what Honky would have been like with Fuji, who was supposedly Vince's first choice to manage him. Other than those three, almost everyone Jimmy managed would have been better off in the Heenan Family. So would almost every other heel the WWF had from 1984-1993 inclusive, but that's a different argument. This promo in itself isn't all that special. Quake shouts threats to Hogan, Bravo shouts threats to Tugboat, and we're done. I loved Jimmy's "Hulkamania is Dead" jacket; by his own admission, he put as much thought into his jackets in the WWF as he did into how he managed his men, which tells you something about how he was used. I can't believe Jesse's gone from the WWF, but I also can't wait to hear him in WCW coming up in '92.
  22. Warrior was actually quite lucid by his own standards here, piggybacking on Brother Love's statements about "vision" quite nicely. I'm not quite sure what was up with the masks all of a sudden (I don't think I remember seeing them advertised anywhere), but they made for quite a visual. I don't think that they were going for even an accidental cut vibe; they were trying to make Warrior more human, not less. Kevin mentioned that Warrior knocking over Brother Love's podium and breaking his glasses was unacceptable in his opinion. I'm guessing that he meant doing it before Brother Love provoked him, in which case he has a point. But in general? That's the number one thing most fans wanted to see: Brother Love getting the crap kicked out of him by his babyface guests. The only reason it didn't happen at least a little more often was that Bruce Prichard wasn't really a bump taker.
  23. Good point about the cobra clutch/Million Dollar Dream. I wondered why Sarge used the Sheik's camel clutch instead. Okay, then, use the camel clutch. The basic point still stands. I'd be interested in why you believe Hogan and Bobby were intentionally kept apart after '88. I'm not doubting you; the evidence is right on film. I'm just wondering what you (or anyone else) think would possess Vince to keep apart his top babyface and the man who would only become further cemented as the WWF's best heel manager in the last three years of his career, particularly when Hogan's the one who brought Bobby in in the first place. By this point, the heel manager roster is pathetic and growing worse every time it's on camera except for Heenan and Sherri, whose act is exclusive to Savage. By the way, why didn't Teddy use the Million Dollar Dream challenge? You'd think it would be a perfect way to get across his wealth by having, say, a $100,000 prize for breaking the hold.
  24. Inoffensive stuff from Duggan and Volkoff. Not so from Sarge, unfortunately. I understand getting heat, but calling the Boy Scouts pukes? This whole run's already garbage, and we haven't even seen Adnan yet. I'd have rather seen Slaughter as a lame babyface midcarder than like this. Didn't Vince remember how Slaughter debuted for his dad ten years before? What was wrong with giving that an update? Make Heenan the commanding general, talk about how disappointed he is in the country he loves, declare war on guys like Volkoff and Duggan who have no idea what patriotism's about, then run the Cobra Clutch Challenge for ten grand a try, double for Volkoff, Duggan.........and Hogan. I can't absolutely guarantee that this would have gotten Sarge the main event at Mania VII, but it sure would have spared Vince a hell of a lot of needless embarrassment. Sometimes the old ways aren't just the best ways, they're the only ways. And now we have to sit through this crap for over a year. Lord, give me strength............
  25. Yes, the Savage/Dusty feud is growing a full-length beard by now, but I'll be damned if Dusty's promo doesn't have me psyched for their match at SummerSlam. This is the type of promo Crockett fans got on a weekly basis, and by now Dusty evidently felt comfortable enough in the WWF to really turn loose on the stick. It's something to behold for both the eyes and the ears. Pete commented above that he was insulted that the WWF expected us to buy a pay-per-view that contained a Sapphire/Sherri singles match. Someone in high places may have agreed with him; that might be one reason why the "mystery benefactor" angle paid off at SummerSlam, so that Juanita wouldn't have to get in the ring with a trained worker like Sherri and be embarrassed in a one-on-one bout. If that was the case, smart move by the WWF. Loved Bobby's line about the Rolling Stones album.
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