The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-05-19)
Some serious 2019 progress! I believe I should have my match of the year list for 2019 up next week, and the top 25 wrestlers of 2019 are a few weeks off!
#11
Rush vs Tracy Williams
ROH Road To G1 Supercard
March 31, 2019
An opener full of two wrestlers trying to stiff each other. Rush has such an amazing presence and Williams does a decent job matching the intensity.
Rating: 7/10
#10
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs Rie Tamada & Yumiko Hotta
AJW Zenjo Movement 1995
June 27, 1995
A fun tag with lots of great spots. Double Inoue was especially tremendous and they hit a super cool finish where Takako did a chokeslam as Kyoko came off the top for extra force!
Rating: 7.25/10
#9
Buddy Murphy vs Roman Reigns
WWE SmackDown
August 13, 2019
I’m a sucker for a big star vs a “rookie” on TV and this delivered. Buddy was on fire and working really stiff, while Reigns gave him everything he could to make Buddy look legit, while still having Reigns go over. Perfect TV match.
Rating: 7.25/10
#8
Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera vs Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi
“International Ribbon Tag Team Championship”
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #1004 ~ Osaka Ribbon 2019
November 3, 2019
An exciting tag match with lots of cool stuff, a great pace, and nearfalls. Although a tad sloppy, it was a blast to watch!
Rating: 7.5/10
#7
A-Kid vs Jonathan Gresham
“Quarter-Finals”
PWG Battle of Los Angeles
September 22, 2019
This had tremendous technical wrestling mixed in with some amazing flying spots with an absolutely tremendous finish, however, the PWG’esque of it took it down a notch. There is just something about PWG that taints everything for my enjoyment. With that being said, still a great match.
Rating: 7.75/10
#6
Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita, & Mima Shimoda vs Kaoru Ito, Mariko Yoshida, & Reggie Bennett
AJW Zenjo Movement 1995
June 27, 1995
I loved the early going of this as Bennett was a real force, but it was all about the showcase of LCO being back together. It really picked up as Hokuto bleed a huge gusher and there was a really good dive segment. Lots of excitement and a damn good match!
Rating: 8/10
#5
Daniel Makabe vs Jonathan Gresham
3-2-1 BATTLE! BattleMania 2019
April 19, 2019
Two all-time great technical wrestlers having a technical battle in front of a rowdy crowd is great wrestling. I loved both focused on a different body part, and I really loved when Makabe realized he was outmatched, he resorted to cheating. It leads to Gresham being a great underdog leading to a great finish!
Rating: 8/10
#4
Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki
“Dress Up Wild Fight”
JWP
July 9, 1995
This was a match of two minds for me. On the one hand it’s everything I want. They brawled into the balcony, and they destroyed the ring. They destroyed each other with parts of the broken ring! It was awesome. Heck, Kansai even taped a wrench to her leg to make her kicks more deadly.
However, it’s 36 minutes long and that really takes it down, because it led to down moments.
Rating: 8/10
#3
Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong
“WWWA World Championship”
AJW Zenjo Movement 1995
June 27, 1995
The prematch staredown was so awesome, they completely tuned everything else out and it started the story well as the bell rang, Kong went back to her corner to be immediately sneak attacked by Toyota. From there the match started off slow but was intense. Kong’s missile dropkick was really devastating. The last half of the match of going for finishers and dramatic kick outs was awesome.
Rating: 8.5/10
#2
El Barbaro Cavernario vs Mistico
“2/3 Falls”
CMLL Super Viernes
May 24, 2019
This match is kind of ridiculous, but I loved it. The first two falls are all Cavernario kicking ass, including a great segment on the floor where he used the guardrail and whipped Mistico with wires. The 2nd Fall ends with Cavernario ripping off Mistico’s mask to be DQ’ed, after Mistico finally made a comeback. The final fall was unreal. Mistico was flying all over the place with such speed and grace it was unbelievable. Cavernario held his own and did awesome stuff like grabbing Mistico’s legs and swinging his head-first into the guardrail. It was exciting and it wasn’t ruined by silly kick outs since most of the big stuff hit on the floor. The finish was dramatic and this is a match I think most of you will enjoy.
Rating: 8.5/10
“Match of the Week”
Jacob Fatu vs LA Park
“MLW World Heavyweight Title No Disqualification Match”
MLW Saturday Night SuperFight
November 2, 2019
A wild bloody violent LA Park brawl with an amazingly athletic Jacob Fatu. These two were out there for war and it was everything you could ever want plus it had fire! It does start a little slow, but soon enough Park is bleeding so bad everything from there is compelling and a real epic.
Rating: 8.75/10
Upcoming!
I’ll be back next week with whatever I’m watching. Remember to join the discord for Sunday at 4pm EST for this great Joshi Night lineup:
- Kyoko Inoue vs Sakie Hasegawa, AJW Japan Grand Prix, 1995-07-23
- Manami Toyota vs Mima Shimoda, AJW Japan Grand Prix, 1995-07-23
- Bad Nurse Nakamura vs Chigusa Nagayo, GAEA, 1995-07-29
- Sakie Hasegawa vs Tomoko Watanabe, AJW Japan Grand Prix, 1995-07-31
- Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada, AJW Japan Grand Prix, 1995-07-31
You can discuss this on Twitter!
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!
Trans Rights!
It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!
The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-05-12)
I got back on track for watching this week and hammered out a lot of 2019! The Stardom pay-per-view dropped today, so I only got to watch the few biggest matches.
#16
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU
JWP
June 16, 1995
This was a really fun tag match with the team of Fukuoaka & KAORU bringing the flying, Devil bringing the power, and Ozaki bringing the violence. A lot of great nearfalls and the moment after Ozaki wins and Devil is just flipping off the losers is awesome!
Rating: 7.25/10
#15
AZM vs Mei Seira
“High Speed Championship”
Stardom Fukuoka Goddess Legend ~Sweet Stardom~
May 4, 2023
The first part of the match felt like a generic defense for AZM, but halfway through she started to focus on Mei’s arm and it got really good.The High Speed counters while someone is entering through the ropes always pop me. The finish worked really well for me and I am excited for the eventual rematch.
Rating: 7.25/10
#14
Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair vs Io Shirai vs Kairi Sane
“NXT Women’s Championship”
NXT TakeOver: New York
April 5, 2019
Although it has the usual problems of four-way matches, this was a lot of fun. All of the interactions between Shirai and KAIRI were awesome, from teaming up at the start to trying to win at the end. Belair was not quite the elite worker she is now, but she really showed her potential, and that double KOD she did was ridiculous! Baszler is such a great badass when booked so well! The finishing sequence ruled too.
Rating: 7.25/10
#13
Maya Yukihi vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
“ICExInfinity Championship Match”
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #974 ~ Osaka Ribbon 2019 III
August 3, 2019
I am generally not a fan of a 30-minute draw and for the first 3/4 this match was a fine solid match, but the last quarter was awesome and more than made up for it. I love Yukihi’s offense and Fujimoto just has a great way of working that I am not sure how to describe. She fits into matches.
Rating: 7.5/10
#12
Ayako Sato vs Haruka Umesaki
“World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship”
Diana
April 29, 2019
A tremendous title match that felt like a big changing of the guard. The young underdog Umesaki did a great job fighting from underneath and getting in good hope spots, leading to their eventual comeback. Sato is great at working on top.
Rating: 7.5/10
#11
Command Bolshoi vs Hana Kimura
Command Bolshoi Produce Pure Princess
March 15, 2019
A really good battle with Bolshoi pulling out another new submission hold I had never seen before. Kimura looked like such a star, especially while working on top. Bolshoi is so giving and this was a great match to have a month before her retirement on a show she produced.
Rating: 7.5/10
#10
Miyuki Takase vs Tae Honma
“AWG Title Tournament Semi-Final”
AWG Act In Osaka
November 3, 2019
This is an awesome display of two wrestlers going all out to advance in a tournament for a title. The forearm exchanges were one of the stiffest and best I have ever seen. I like Honma’s strategy of trying to go for the arm since she can’t outstrike Takase. The finish was very well done.
Rating: 7.5/10
#9
Kyoko Inoue vs Unagi Sayaka
Diana
April 29, 2023
I may be biased on this one, but I thought this match was awesome. Unagi was really laying in her kicks, and Inoue fought back with some stiff lariats. They had two awesome segments in the crowd which really ramped up the heat. Down the stretch, there were some great near falls, which I bought on.
Rating: 7.5/10
#8
Sareee vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #992 ~ Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium III
September 14, 2019
This was everything you could want from these two. It was filled with stiff strikes and crushing suplexes. The match kept building up and had a lot of great nearfalls and vicious suplexes and it lead up to a good finish. A perfect undercard Joshi match to steal a show.
Rating: 8/10
#7
Brock Lesnar vs Cody Rhodes
WWE Backlash
May 6, 2023
A fascinating match very laid out. It was a tremendous brawl with a really great finish. Brock was very bloody. 8 minutes is the perfect length of time for a Brock match.
Rating: 8/10
#6
Mio Momono vs Takumi Iroha
Marvelous
November 3, 2019
I loved the story of this match where it seemed like Iroha wasn’t taking Momono seriously, until too late. The crowd was wild and Momono was on fire to prove herself against Iroha who was just killing her with her offense. The powerbomb Iroha hit right before the time expired was so nasty!
Rating: 8.5/10
#5
Candice LeRae vs Io Shirai
NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019
August 10, 2019
This was tremendous with Shirai as the vicious heel in her more cocky Stardom but more evil form. Candice was a worthy underdog, who took all of Shirai’s vicious offense from her moonsault to an Avalanche Spanish Fly. LeRae brought her own ridiculous offense with a tope DDT and a reverse hurrancanrana. It built to a good finish with everyone playing their roles till the end.
Rating: 8.5/10
#4
Arisa Nakajima vs Nanae Takahashi
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Title Hair vs Hair Match”
SEAdLINNNG Dynamic Show Case! ~ Kawasaki Monogatari
November 2, 2019
A great match that weirdly didn’t hit my expectations. I did love Nakajima going after Takahashi’s arm and that limiting Takahashi’s offense throughout the match. The intensity and the violence were there and it was dramatic on the nearfalls with the title and hair on the line. The issue was the kick outs felt like they were going into the epic territory too much, they didn’t fit well into the match. Outside of that, really great and hard to deny.
Raring: 8.75/10
#3
Mina Shirakawa vs Natsupoi
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Fukuoka Goddess Legend ~Sweet Stardom~
May 4, 2023
“Mina is not the White Belt Champion that we wanted, but Mina is the White Belt Champion that we needed.”
What a great change of pace from Kamitani’s title reign, as Mina brings the psychology, emotion, and drama back to the White Belt! Natsupoi upped her game too, bringing pure violence in her strikes and her selling of Mina’s leg attacks was awesome. Mina’s leg attacking legs every big match is great and she does it with such great variety that I love it. Mina mixes in the big moves and nearfalls to put this over the top.
Rating: 8.75/10
#2
Bianca Belair vs IYO SKY
“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”
WWE Backlash
May 6, 2023
These two have had awesome chemistry in the past and that continues here. I loved Shirai’s work on Belair’s arm and Belair’s selling of it throughout especially the one-armed gorilla press of all things. Both played their strengths so well and the crowd was so into it on Shirai’s side! From the finish tease of the finisher to the outside interference is all-time territory. The finish is good and this is an easy MOTY contender. They better do a rematch.
Rating: 8.75/10
“Match of the Week”
Chigusa Nagayo vs Dynamite Kansai
JWP
June 16, 1995
This was a smartly worked war! The first segment was Nagayo and Kasnai trying for a knockout or a submission to really prove who was tougher. When they couldn’t do that, we got a lot of great nearfalls. The teases of the Aavalance Niagra Driver were great, and well thrown into this match. Everything in this was a great struggle to prove who was more badass.
Rating: 8.75/10
Watch Party!
I’ll be back next week with whatever I’m watching. Remember to join the discord for Sunday at 4pm EST for this great Joshi Night lineup:
- Double Inoue vs Rie Tamada & Yumiko Hotta, AJW, 1995-06-27
- Akira Hokuto & LCO vs Kaoru Ito, Mariko Yoshida, & Reggie Bennett, AJW, 1995-06-27
- Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota, WWWA Singles Title, AJW, 1995-06-27
- Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki, Dress Up Wild Fight, JWP, 1995-07-09
You can discuss this on Twitter!
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!
Trans Rights!
It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!
The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-05-05)
The strike is over, tentatively, as of Thursday. It’s a weird range of stuff this week, but very good matches from all over!
#9
WALTER vs Pete Dunne
“WWE United Kingdom Championship”
NXT UK
April 19, 2019, airing May 22
The match is what you would expect from these two. Stiff violence. It had a really nice beat-down segment by WALTER on the floor, and a pretty hot comeback by Dunne afterward. After that, it was going for too epic a match then had an old school seconds distract and attack finish. A good match, but could have been better.
Rating: 7/10
#8
Jordynne Grace vs Deonna Purrazzo
“Impact Knockouts World Championship”
Impact Wrestling Rebellion 2023
April 16, 2023
The classic power vs technique match up in the main event. They worked it really well and it was a worthwhile main event. I could watch Purrazzo pick apart bigger wrestlers all day.
Rating: 7.5/10
#7
Maya Yukihi vs Giulia
“ICExInfinity Championship”
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #962 ~ Osaka Ribbon 2019 II
May 25, 2019
A young and upcoming Giulia vs the Ice Ribbon ace in a big title match. It’s weird to see after my previous experience with these two and a role-reversal title match from earlier this year in Stardom.
Giulia is a little green here, but you can see the violence these two have in 2023 all the way back here in 2019. It kept escalating toward a violent finish and a really awesome match.
Rating: 7.75/10
#6
Aja Kong & Yuu vs Meiko Satomura & Mika Iwata
Sendai Girls Women’s Pro Wrestling Big Show In Niigata
June 8, 2019
This was a pretty good tag match. Kong and Yuu worked like The Colossal Connection, only with Kong being a lot more mobile than 1990 Andre the Giant. Kong and Satomura still have amazing chemistry from their past and they really lead the finishing sequence to be very exciting.
Rating: 7.75/10
#5
Momo Watanabe vs Tam Nakano
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom 8th Anniversary
January 14, 2019
It’s fun going back and watching a match from four years ago where Tam is trying to prove she’s worthy of the White Belt! That story was told really well and the kicks from both were deadly. Tam is such a great storyteller and Momo is such a beast. As awesome as this was, it’s amazing how much both have improved since then.
Rating: 8/10
#4
KAORU & Sonoko Kato vs Michiko Nagashima & Miki Handa
GAEA Second Battle Story
May 14, 1995
For the second GAEA show they come back with another crazy violent tag team brawl. This time with way less star power, but they made up for it with more flying. The blood really kicked the match up to another gear and I loved all the chair and kendo stick shots. Usually, those can come off as lame or overdone, but they really worked here.
Rating: 8/10
#3
Takumi Iroha vs Unagai Sayaka
Marvelous 7th Anniversary
May 3, 2023
What an excellent match and one of the best in Unagi Sayaka’s career. Her indie run has been awesome, but this was the biggest match she had facing the best wrestler she’s faced on a big show, and boy did she deliver. Her offense looked really mean and it was a great heat segment she had on Iroha. Iroha looks great as always and they built up a match that was a very worthy big dream match.
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
Nanae Takahashi vs Takumi Iroha
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”
SEAdLINNNG Stay Tune 2019
May 29, 2019
These two are truly a great match-up for each other. Both throw bombs and stiff shots and can really escalate things to an exciting finish and that is exactly what we get here. Everything hit and Takahashi was really on her game.
Rating: 8.25/10
“Match of the Week”
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Sareee
“Sendai Girls World & World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship”
Sendai Girls Women’s Pro Wrestling Big Show In Niigata
June 8, 2019
It would be hard to pick better underdog vs dominant badass competitors for a big unification title match than this. I loved how they worked this with Hashimoto just dominating early and Sareee trying to battle back. At first, Sareee tried speed and technique, but when that didn’t work she resorted to vicious headbutts and German suplexes and just came head-on to Hashimoto. The finishing stretch was great and this match was intense and dramatic. A must-watch!
Rating: 8.75/10
Watch Party!
I’ll be back next week with whatever I’m watching, hopefully, Stardom and a lot more 2019! Remember to join the discord for Sunday at 4pm EST for this great Joshi Night lineup:
- Bolshoi Kid vs Cutie Suzuki, JWP, 1995-06-16
- Candy Okutsu vs Hiromi Yagi vs Hiromi Sugo, Triangle Rules, JWP, 1995-06-16
- Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU, JWP, 1995-06-16
- Chigusa Nagayo vs Dynamite Kansai, JWP, 1995-06-16
- Meiko Satomura vs Toshie Uematsu, GAEA, 1995-06-18
- Bomber Hikari & Sumio Toyoma vs Hiromi Yagi & Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA, 1995-06-18
- Chigusa Nagayo vs Devil Masami, GAEA, 1995-06-18
You can discuss this on Twitter!
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!
Trans Rights!
It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!
Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-10)
Here are the best matches I watched the last week! From March 4 to March 10, 2023. It was kind of a light week since I started a new position at work and you know how that is.
#9
Roxanne Perez vs Meiko Satomura
“NXT Women’s Championship”
NXT Roadblock
March 7, 2023
I’ve loved these two in the past, so I had to check this out and it was pretty good. A classic teacher/veteran vs student/youngster match, but with the twist of the youngster as the champion. Well laid out with Meiko being the dominant badass she is. Based on the sudden finish, I’d hope for a bigger rematch where they could put on a truly great match.
Rating: 7/10
#8
Aja Kong & Mariko Yoshida vs Kyoko Inoue vs Takako Inoue
“WWWA Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Success
March 21, 1995
Aja Kong was in full beast mode in this one and Yoshida offered a great contrast to her. Double Inoue was on a mission to regain the titles they forfeited because they were the 99th champions and wanted to be the 100th. That led to an exciting tag match!
Rating: 7/10
#7
Kumiko Maekawa vs Nanae Takahashi
AJW Garage Show
November 11, 2001
These two different heavy hitters had a very fun 15-minute draw. It took place at some festival, where there were tents around the ringside. They took great advantage of the setting and brawled to those areas, plus to the street and used a variety of weapons in fun ways. A draw, that didn’t feel like a draw and a very exciting rush to get the pin at the end.
Rating: 7/10
#6
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Himeka
Stardom Triangle Derby I
March 4, 20223
Not only is this a good hoss battle, but it’s perfect booking. Hashimoto has come to Stardom to destroy Syuri and along the way she is building herself up by taking out the biggest hoss in Stardom, Himeka. They battle and battle hard!
Rating: 7/10
#5
Blizzard Yuki & Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
“WWWA Tag Team Title Tournament Final”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Success
March 21, 1995
The finals of the tournament to crown the 100th WWWA Tag Team Champions was very nearfall heavy which normally would have brought it down a lot, but it being the finals of a tournament weakened the blow a little. An exciting, all-action tag match!
Rating: 7.25
#4
Ami Sourei, MIRAI, & Syuri vs. Hiragi Kurumi, Risa Sera, & Suzu Suzuki
“Triangle Derby Finals”
Stardom Triangle Derby I
March 4, 20223
This tournament has made one of the most stagnant and boring times in Stardom since I started following it closely, but the final show was amazing including the finals of the tournament. I love how strong Prominence has been booked in Stardom, especially Suzu Suzuki. Suzuki and MIRAI have awesome chemistry and their finishing sequence was tremendous.
Rating: 7.5/10
#3
Giulia vs Maya Yukihi
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Triangle Derby I
March 4, 20223
I haven’t seen Yukihi before, but she is from Giulia’s Ice Ribbon past. Based on this match, they have a lot of beef. This focussed a lot more on brawling on the outside and trying to put the other out than your typical Stardom title match, so this was a nice contrast. I dug the ending as Giulia hit the knockout blow on the outside, which would make Akira Hokuto happy, but is too hurt to enter herself. Looking forward to them continuing this one!
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
AZM vs Starlight Kid
“High Speed Championship”
Stardom Triangle Derby I ~Championship Battle~
March 4, 2023
Watching these two feels like you are watching the future of wrestling. While current people are focussing on huge spots, more flips, and fast action, these two focus on fast action built around going for wins with submissions and roll-ups. It feels so much better and natural! There were some huge spots in this one though, but they felt more impactful and more going for the win.
Although this was great, the match they had last year felt a bit better.
Rating: 8.5/10
“Fan Favourite”
Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin vs Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW Toukon Festival
November 13, 2004
RoseGold saw how much I enjoyed the Fujita-Nagata shoot fight last week, so tried to see if I would enjoy it more. If you have a match you want me to watch next week, hit me up on Twitter or the discord.
It is so strange seeing Nakamura be so normal here. It’s also a very nice nostalgia hit when I see Kashin. Back in high school I never watched him but was somehow a big fan. He had a mask and did cool armbars, that’s all I needed!
The highlights of this match were when Fujita was beating the shit out of dudes, especially Nakanishi who was a giant punching bag. Nakanishi is so big he also had a few cool moments. Nakamura was just there, like he was a solid dude, but was not a stand-out in any way. Kashin hit a cool armbar off the top rope, so major bonus points for that.
Altogether, there were some fun moments, but mostly it was an okay tag that didn’t do a whole lot for me. Fujita and Don Frye seem to be my favourite shoot-style dudes, but that’s mostly for the MMA punching and not caring about their opponent’s attitude. It doesn’t always translate to a good match.
Rating: fun in parts/10
“Match of the Week”
Saya Kamitani vs Hazuki
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Triangle Derby I ~Championship Battle~
March 4, 2023
When Saya Kamitani is on, she’s really on. Even better when there is someone in there who keeps her on track and from going too far. Hazuki was just that person and her desperation to win at all costs made was unreal. Every time Kamitani started to drag this down, Hazuki brought it right back on track. It was frantic, and exciting, and had me on the edge of my seat.
Rating: 8.5/10
You can discuss this on Twitter!
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!
Trans Rights!
It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!
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