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Tonight, I’m giving my account of the WWE house show last Friday in my home city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was a great night had by myself and I will also tell you about the day prior to the show. So let’s go.
I’m sure you all don’t want to know what time I woke up, brushed my teeth and took a shower out therefore I’ll skip all that! My cousin and I had decided to meet up prior to the show to meet the WWE stars at the hotel, however he’s went AWOL and I haven’t heard from him in a few weeks, therefore I started the day right off the bat in an annoyed mood. I took the train to Belfast which took an hour and thankfully was able to meet up with Noeleen – someone I had only previously talked to via twitter but seeing as she was by herself and I was by myself we thought we’d team up and get our stalker on. We arrived at the Hilton hotel where they usually stay (if at all) and were met with a large gang of Chinese people and police men. Turns out that the Chinese democrat was visiting Belfast on the same day as the wrestlers, as well as the same day of the MTV Titanic Sounds show that was on later that night. To say Belfast was packed was an understatement. Noeleen and I bought hot chocolates to avoid being kicked out of the Hilton for being stalkers –which by the way, does actually happen! After weeks and weeks of trying to book a room into the completely booked out Hilton I was able to get an available room, thankfully I decided it was too dear before being told that the WWE stars weren’t staying in the Hilton! Noeleen and I were told where the stars were staying and made our way over, getting lost on the way but in the end, we arrived to a hotel packed with wrestling fans in the lobby! NERDS.
Several stars were walking to the reception desk, to the taxis outside or back to their rooms therefore there were brief chances to meet them, or at least proclaim your love for them which Natalya soon heard from me. Alberto Del Rio came down with 2-3 security men to help fend off all us nerds and I, unfortunately, noted that he was wearing a Real Madrid cap, the bastard. (Anyone who’s looking at the screen in confusion here’s why: I’m an Atletico Madrid supporter; who happen to be city rivals to Real Madrid, if you didn’t work that one out.)
Big Show was scheduled for a signing at Smyths starting at 3 therefore he made his way out from the elevators and was met by the crowd of fans. He was extremely nice and took pictures/signed autographs with everyone who asked him for one before making his way into a blacked out taxi. In the slideshow you will see that I panicked and snuck into someone else’s photos. OOPS, my bad.
Hunico –who is one of my favourites at the moment – was next to come into the lobby. He was coming from the gym and like Big Show was extremely nice, signing autographs and taking photos (several photos in the case of Noeleen!) so it was a pleasure to meet him. Extremely cool dude and definitely a star.
After Hunico came and went hotel staff were asking fans whether or not they had a room booked, to which I said no, resulting in us getting kicked out. THANKFULLY this worked in our favour as we got to meet some of the stars first and it also meant that we weren’t lined up behind a barrier. The next star we met was Cody Rhodes who was also returning from the gym. Cody is extremely cool and he took pictures with the fans outside. Noeleen told me to sing Smoke and Mirrors, therefore I tried my best at the high pitched version! WHOA YOU’RE ONLY SMOKE AND MIRRORS!
Next to emerge from a taxi outside the hotel was big Ezekiel Jackson. At first everyone was like, “Who’s he?” and I myself actually thought it was Big E Langston from FCW (don’t ask where I got that one from!) Eventually everyone realised that it was Big Zeke. He was cool too, taking pictures and signing autographs. I actually thought he was great because he pulled an angry/determined face in my picture. Someone shouted to him: “Yo Zeke time to get that IC belt back!” to which Zeke responded “Haha, yeah man”.
Next was A.J!! Jeez, she’s cooler than ice-cubes and is extremely cute! She had come from her room and was making her way to the buses which were parked outside, she took pictures with everyone and signed autographs and sounded nothing like she does on TV, but there you have it. Even though she wasn’t in her skinny jeans, converse and tank top she was still incredibly cute.
After A.J many fans from inside, including a whole host of kids realised that being outside was more beneficial to them and that they had more chance getting photos/autographs outside and because of them a security man made us all move to a position behind the bus doors and luggage on the bus. All chaos was soon to start but the next person out was Riiiiiiiicardo Rodriguez who was the best out of all the stars I met. He was so damn funny, super kind and talked for a few second whilst taking pictures and autographs. Noeleen told him how she loves him more than Alberto Del Rio to which Ricardo said, “Well that’s not good! You’re meant to be hating me!”. If you hate Ricardo then you don’t have a sense of humour at all. The older fans, including myself and Noeleen started chanting “SI, SI, SI, SI, SI” to which got a laugh from Ricardo before he told us that he wanted to record us saying the introduction of ALBERTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DEL RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIO! He then got on the bus and seconds later posted the link on Twitter. The man is a legend.
Lilian Garcia came out after Ricardo and she was stunning. But was visibly freezing, at one point saying to me “Jeez, Belfast is freezing today!”. It was cold that day but you’re never going to get boiling hot California weather here so I don’t know what she was expecting haha! She took photos and photos, in mine I was laughing at something so please excuse the ridiculous face!
Tyson Kidd and Natalya followed and also took the time to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. Unfortunately for me Noeleen got the last picture with Tyson, but I did manage to plead with Natalya into getting a picture with her. Natalya, by the way, is beautiful and such a great character.
The last person to get a picture with was the king, nope, not Jerry Lawler or Elvis Presley but WILLIAM REGAL! This man is cool as ice and sweeps his hair back for every photo. At first Regal went straight onto the bus but he must have gotten bored waiting on the others and thought why the hell not spend time with the fans!
Notes about the other wrestlers:
– Randy Orton fools fans. At the hotel he wouldn’t sign autographs or take photos, despite having to wait 5-10 minutes for his taxi to the gym. He said that he would take photos and what not when he returned providing he had time. Well, he did have time when he returned but walked straight to his room and then straight from his room onto the bus.
-Khali, Hornswoggle, Mahal, Daniel Bryan, Camacho, Del Rio, Mark Henry, Yoshi Tatsu all went straight onto the bus.
-When Yoshi Tatsu was walking onto the bus none of the fans chanted for him, until I stepped up and in my best Yoshi Tatsu impression shouted “Yoshi Tatsu”, Yoshi turned around and stared me straight in the eyes before climbing on board the bus. Talk about awkward.
Onto the show now:
The first match was Jinder Mahal versus the Great Khali. The crowd, mainly made up of kids, was incredibly vocal towards Khali; chanting his name and cheering for him quite a lot! The match was pretty standard and had it been shown on Sky I would have skipped it without even caring. Maybe it was the atmosphere in the arena but I found myself cheering on Khali and I didn’t even think about how bad of a “wrestler” he is. Khali picked up the win here with a Khali bomb.
The second match was William Regal and Tyson Kidd versus Hunico and Camacho. When Regal and Kidd came to the ring Regal picked up the mic and spoke to the crowd saying, “This is actually the part where I’m supposed to make you hate me now, I’ve been coming here for what? 25 years I’ve been coming to Belfast and for most of that time I’ve come out here and screamed at you and pulled faces and said horrible, horrible things to you, but I’m an old man now and all the hates went out of me, ladies and gentleman it’s an absolute pleasure to be here tonight. I dunno how many more of these I have in me but if this is the last one then thank you for everything Belfast!” This gained huge pops from the Belfast crowd and was one of those weird moments where you feel like they’re dying but they’re not. The match was very solid with Hunico and Kidd getting in some of those great highflying moves that were seen on their SuperStars match. Camacho also got a good amount of ring time and I thought he was quite good, so expect WWE to start using him in matches soon! Tyson Kidd and William Regal won this match after a knee trembler. William and Tyson celebrated in the ring, with Regal pointing to Kidd several times as if to say, “This is the real deal”. Regal left the ring and left Tyson in the ring to soak up some of the cheers. Regal really done a great job of putting Kidd over here, or so I felt.
The third match was Alberto Del Rio w/Ricardo Rodriguez versus Ezekiel Jackson. Before the match started Rodriguez mocked Ezekiel by flexing his muscles (or lack of) in his suit. Ezekiel was in charge of this match but would lose to Alberto by tapping out to the Cross Armbreaker. I thought Ricardo made this match great through his comical poses and distractions.
Match number four was the Divas match between A.J and Natalya w/Special Guest referee Hornswoggle. Another very enjoyable match here. The best spot in the match was the chain of rollups that were done to perfection making poor Hornswoggle attempt counting with every rollup. Hornswoggle then decided he had enough, walked over to the turnbuckle and wiped the sweat off his forehead, took a few deep breathes before returning to action. By this time Natalya and A.J had broke up the rollups. Definitely a great comedy moment. A.J would win via rollup after Hornswoggle had taken a bite of Natalya’s ass. Important to note (and you may have seen this on the dirtsheets already) that Natalya and Lilian Garcia are set to start a program together after Natalya arrogantly threw her jacket to Lilian at the start of the match to which Lilian – with a load of that Latina sass – threw the jacket out of the ring. After the match Lilian threw the jacket at Natalya who covered her head with it in shame. The two have since started a war of words on Twitter.
The fifth match was the Intercontinental championship match between Cody Rhodes and Big Show. Cody cut a promo before the match making several American sports references and telling the crowd that we wouldn’t understand because nothing good had ever come out of Northern Ireland. At the start of the match Cody kept jumping out of the ring before Big Show started calling Cody a wannabe underwear model and chicken before starting a chicken dance and chicken noises. This was a better match than their Mania match, going back and forth before Show would get the win with a chokeslam.
Match number 6 was a squash match between Yoshi Tatsu and Mark Henry. Not much to note here – Yoshi got some kicks in before getting the World Strongest Slam, the end.
The seventh match of the evening was the No-DQ match between Kane and Randy Orton. Orton received a huuuge pop. This was probably the second best match because the two had the whole arena in the palm of their hand. Kane introduced kendo sticks and chairs into the match. Orton hit the hangman DDT on the chair, and got the win via RKO.
The last match of the evening was between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan for the WHC. Sheamus got the biggest pop of the night and Daniel Bryan had a flurry of YES chants going. This was the match that we ALL should have seen at Mania. It wasn’t a 5 star classic but it was a great match, and definitely my favourite of the night! The match went back and forth with Bryan locking in the YESlock (labelle lock for non-Smackdown watchers) but Sheamus would pick up the win with a Brogue Kick. Leaving the crowd to go home happy!
The crowd was electric for the whole evening, a good mixture of adults and kids, in my section particularly there were more kids than a primary school. They started to piss me off after a while. There was a mother and her two kids who had bought nosebleed seats but thought they’d trample round the floor section for the whole evening. Some kids kept running through my row of chairs, which was EXTREMELY annoying. Because I was at the barriers I found them bullying their way through every 5 minutes. At one point a kid had trampled on my camera bag which had one of my SLR lenses inside it.
Overall it was a very solid show. Some great wrestling moments and definitely a special speech by William Regal which I will forever remember. Show rating – 7.5/10
Hope you don’t mind the length of tonight’s article, so to help ease you back into life here’s a slideshow of some pictures and the ADR video!
All photos are my own.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoyed it somewhat. If you wish to continue the discussion comment below or you can contact me on Twitter @Razor_WWE94!
See me back here, hopefully a wee bit earlier next Wednesday!
-Ryan
This is fucking great man! hahah. I love the pics, they look pro. Big Show is such a giant man in person. LOL. Where’s your hand in the Rhodes pic? Hahha. Jealous. They all seemed really friendly and up for taking pics.
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Thanks for the feedback dude.
Oh hell yeah, like his height is one thing but see the size of his hand? Scary.
My hand in the Rhodes pic is firmly in my pocket. What it was doing in there I can’t say 😉 I joke. They are all so friendly, was surprising 🙂
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Haha! Yeah like they all have really good smiles and look comfortable. Regal has the best facial expression to me. lol
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I’m sure they get their picture taken about 30 times a day, at least! Regal is funny because the camera shot mid-blink hehe! Funny shit. Great photo though!
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What was wrong with Zeke & Regal?
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In the pictures with me?
Zeke was just back from the gym and I think his face was just his character really. You know like his whole domination thang.
Regal was tired as hell lol! He kept saying he was an old man now, but the camera caught the picture half way through him blinking.
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When I started reading the first paragraph, it sounded like yourself and Noeleen were going to ride each other in the hotel 😛
ADR wore a Madrid cap?! What an absolute cunt! haha
I saw your Ricardo Rodriguez video, it was very cool of him and he seems very pleasant to talk to!
Awesome slide show, Ryan. Seems like you had a great time.
Your best work yet.
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LOL! Jesus Ray, this isn’t an adult site, if you want to know the afterhours of the day then private message me 😉 ONLY KIDDING. Nothing went down, just some good ole wrestling banter.
Oh I know right?! Who even supports them. I mean, despite Atletico being what? 8th in the league does not mean that Real are better than them 😉
Ricardo is a god sent from God. Seriously, he’s hilarious. Just a really cool, down to earth guy. Unlike his boss ADR!
Sure did, was a great time had by all! Thanks for the feedback, means a lot.
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I’ve been a bit of a dick to you and Noeleen about this, lol 😀
I never would of thought that about Ricardo. Even the way you say Ricardo instead of Rodriquez, he must give off a real friendly impression. With ADR…he’s a heel…so he has to maintain that heel like feeling when mixing with fans.
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I saw something about Ricardo where he used to be an extra in porn.
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Read that too Capt. Fucking hilarious LOL! I would actually love to see it, just for shits & giggles, providing he isn’t naked. I read he was wearing like a cuban or Mexican outfit or something?
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We all know why you want to see it. It’s the 21st Century. We won’t judge. Kidding.
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LOL, you love winding us up! 🙂
Oh for sure! I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed meeting him! I think he’s thankful for his fans to be honest, he soaked up the laughs & talked a good bit.
I get what you’re saying about Del Rio, although all the other heels that day; Cody Rhodes, Natalya, Ricardo, Hunico were all very cool. I just think Del Rio was tired & looking to get his gym time done & relax. I can understand, because the tour is gruelling.
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Yeah, it could’ve just been a bad day or they are just awkward around people.
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you never know Capt, some WWE wrestlers could be shy and everyone is entitled to their bad days.
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You lucky fuck! I hope you die a very slow and painful death. Just kidding, maybe… 🙂
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I read in Jericho’s book that he was a huge wrestling stalker when he was younger just like Ryan. The book has a photo of him with Steamboat.
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Cheesy Jericho and a high Steamboat!
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Oh btw Capt, I forgot to add it in but the Captain’s Quarters photo is the one of Natalya and Hornswoggle. I added that because of Natalya’s eyes and where they could be interpreted as looking. 🙂
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I swear, Natalya’s getting hotter and hotter.
As for the pic, I guess there’s a reason why some call him “Horny”.
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She’s so beautiful in person, I told her I loved her. You know… Love at first sight! Tyson was ready to lock in the sharpshooter on me. This could be the new love triangle on NXT, alls they need to do is hire me.
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“RYAN! RYAN! RYAN! RYAN!”
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The “RYAN!” chant is good, but it’s 4 letters long, I’d only be on the same level as that damn rattlesnake Stone Cold! I need to get a good two letter chant going… Could always just be “RY!” Muaha, suck on that one D-Bry!
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Them’s fightin’ words!
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There ya go, me and Jericho have one more thing in common. BUT it isn’t the only thing in common, for example: I, too, am the man of 1,004 holds.
Jericho’s books are amazing.
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HA! I know right, I’m a lucky dude. I’ll die for sure, and most certainly a painful death but only after I defeat the Undertaker at WrestleMania and end the streak!
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YES! YES! YES!
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Well, my comment above said they need to hire me for the NXT love triangle. That’s all good but I could be the new rookie to defeat the streak. I know everyone is gagging for this to happen. Need to start a petition to WWE 😉
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I think you might have a shot. *calls the funeral director*
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What?! You don’t think I can end the streak? Tell the Deadman to come into my yard, he’ll get his ass kicked. Don’t you know? I’m not a superstar, I’m an athlete, I’m an ass-kicker! I’m only happy when I’m hurting people. hahaha
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Ryan Lesnar?
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Better than Lesnar, I’d say Triple R! OR Ryan Cole, undefeated at WrestleMania!
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Capt, if you hate Ryan, you are really gonna hate me when I get to see Brock Lesnar fight John Cena in 10 days. I will take a lot of pics.
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Agent Smooth here. Operation Kegger is a go. You all know the drill.
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Never mind Capt being the only one hating you; we’re ALL hating you! Can’t wait to see the pictures! Lesnar – Cena should be awesome. As should Sheamus – Daniel Bryan & Jericho – Punk. Extreme Rules has the possibility of being the second best PPV of the year after Mania considering it’s strong match card.
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Ryan, hold Tony down!
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I have a feeling Tony isn’t going to make it to the PPV, he’ll get to the arena doors and that’s when we strike & take him out. 😉 Tony, you have a bounty on your head haha!
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I hope ER is as good as the last PPV I went to.
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Meanie!
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Super fun read. Sounds like a quality experience.
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Glad you thought so! It was a great day for sure, glad it transferred over to this article 🙂
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Awesome pictures/slideshow! Better not mess with Yoshi, hear he’s not nice.
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Did you read that somewhere?
He didn’t really give off that friendly of a vibe. He came out looking grumpy (maybe he was tired) & walked straight onto the first step of the bus before giving me a death stare & continuing on into the bus.
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Nice comments on Khali. That’s what most people say. They hate him, but as soon as they see how big he is, they’re just like “Fuck it!” and start cheering him.
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I first seen Khali at the hotel & was like Jeeeeeeeesus, look at the size of that dude. He looked so awkward getting on the bus as well, the ceiling was too low for him lol! I think it helped that he was up against Jinder Mahal because I would never, ever cheer for that dude.
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I hear he’s one of the most popular guys backstage. Great attitude.
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Seriously? I thought he would have been grilled on because of his lack of wrestling skills.
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No. Him and Mason Ryan are both well-liked because they will admit to their flaws in the ring.
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Never knew that Capt. Mason Ryan isn’t the greatest at all!
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You should have got a picture of Yoshi Tatsu staring you down, lol. And no surprise Del Rio is a Real Madrid fan, all Mexicans seemingly are.
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LOL, his death stare would have smashed the lens on the camera haha, seriously didn’t know what his problem was.
Yeah, a lot of them are. Maybe it has to do with that movie “Goal” all those years back w/Santiago Munez who played w/Newcastle before moving to Madrid. Remember that movie?
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Maye he thought you were Tenshi?
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LOL! If I looked ANYTHING like him I wouldn’t leave the house hahaha!
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It’s not like people could take you.
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Yeah, I do they were all right. And I wonder how many Mexicans support Newcastle? Lol
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Great read, makes me wish I took the chance to go and see one of the shows while WWE were over here this time. Gonna make up for it in November though, that’s for sure.
Oh, and I hate dealing with kids at wrestling shows. If I had a pound for every bruise I get from kids trying to get past me (or through me) to get to the barrier, I’d be able to take everyone off here to Wrestlemania!
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Thanks man 🙂
I’d definitely recommend it, I enjoy it a ton. I’m actually just waiting for tickets to go on sale for the November show at 9 o’clock this morning. Hope I get a very close up row.
LOL! Well if that ever happens give me a shout, I’m up for Mania 😉
The kids are annoying as hell, I know I didn’t get on like that as a kid. They just take liberties. If they had of broken my camera lens I would have been incredibly fuming. Those lenses aren’t cheap.
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