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Norvell Austin

January 06, 2023

Norvell Austin (born March 9, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler. Austin worked for most of his career in the Southern United States, most often in tag team competition. Norvell Austin is most famous for teaming with Sputnik Monroe in one of the first "mixed races" villainous teams seen in the south.[1] Austin was also part of the original Midnight Express from 1981 to 1983.[2] Later on he would team with Koko B. Ware as one half of the "Pretty Young Things".[3]

Norvell Austin
Born (1951-03-09) March 9, 1951 (age 71)
Pensacola, Florida, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Black Panther
The Junkyard Dog
Norvell Austin
The Shadow
Billed height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight224 lb (102 kg)
Billed fromByhalia, Mississippi, United States
Debut1971
RetiredSeptember 25, 2004

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1971–1981)

Austin began his professional wrestling career in 1971 the Florida/Alabama area. At the time, African American wrestlers in the south were utilized in very specific ways. They were mainly restricted to wrestling other African Americans and if they were to wrestle white opponents, they were always fan favorites who could not cheat or use underhanded means to beat their white opponents.[1] These restrictions meant that Austin worked as a face initially and mainly in singles competition since no all African American tag teams were used at that time.[1]

In late 1971 Austin along with a man who had been fighting for equality in wrestling for a long time, Sputnik Monroe formed a tag team, what was unique for the team at the time was that they were heels (bad guys) a first for the Southern United States wrestling promotions.[1] Norvell would dye a blond streak in his hair to match Monroe's and even hinted that Austin could be Sputnik Monroe's son.[4] Together the team won the NWA Mid-America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship from the team of Bearcat Brown and Len Rossi in May 1972. They’d lose the titles to Karl and Kurt Von Brauner about a month later.[5] Winning the tag team gold was far from the only achievement Austin and Monroe had while in Mid-America, in what was a reversal of an infamous angle that saw "The Interns" paint Bearcat Brown with white paint the heel duo dropped black paint on white wrestler Robert Fuller. This lead Sputnik Monroe to state that "Black is Beautiful" to which Norvell Austin replied "White is wonderful", something that would become a catch phrase for the team.[1] Austin and Monroe also saw success outside the Alabama area where NWA Mid-America operated, mainly in Florida where they worked for Championship Wrestling from Florida under promoter Eddie Graham. In Florida the team won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on October 10, 1972 by beating Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden. Austin and Monroe held the titles until November 16, 1972, when Jack and Jerry Brisco beat them for the titles.[5]

On October 1, 1973 Austin won his first singles title when he became the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Champion, something which helped cement Austin Novell as one of the pioneers in breaking down the racial barriers in the south.[1] In 1975 Austin teamed up with Rocket Monroe (Sputnik's storyline brother) to briefly hold the Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling version of the NWA United States tag team titles.[5] After working together for three years which saw the team even tour Japan Norvell Austin decided that it was time to work as a singles wrestler ending his association with Sputnik Monroe.[4] From 1975 Austin kept working for NWA Mid-America both the southern part of the territory that was promoted by Nick Gulas and the northern part promoted by Jerry Jarrett that would later split off and become Continental Wrestling Association (CWA).[6] Despite wanting to wrestle more as a singles wrestler Austin was usually booked in the tag team division, teaming with for instance Butch Malone to win the NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship.[5] After the title loss Austin was given an opportunity to feud with his former partner Butch Malone for a brief period of time. The feud with Malone did not convince the bookers to give Austin more of a singles push but instead put him back in the tag team division with a variety of partners such as Bill Dundee, Pat Barrett and Jimmy Golden all of whom he held tag team championships in NWA Mid-America or Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling (renamed Southeast Championship Wrestling (SECW) in 1978).[5]

The Midnight Express (1981–1983)

Main article: The Midnight Express

In 1980 a new team was formed in Southeast Championship Wrestling when Dennis Condrey's previous partner Don Carson retired. Condrey teamed up with Randy Rose and won the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship shortly after they started teaming up.[5] The team started a storyline feud with Austin who wrestled as "The Junkyard Dog" before the more famous version of the Junkyard Dog used the name in wrestling. Austin recruited various partners such as Paul Orndorff, who were successful in capturing the Southeast tag team gold briefly.[5] In an attempt to throw Rose and Condrey off Austin would adopt the masked persona of "The Shadow" and together with Brad Armstrong defeat the team for the Southeast tag team gold on May 4, 1981 and held onto the gold until July 27, 1981 where Condrey and Rose regained the titles. After the title loss Austin turned on Armstrong and joined up with Condrey and Rose to form a stable (group) known as The Midnight Express.[7] In the book The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams Condrey explains that the name did not stem from the movie Midnight Express (although later versions of the Midnight Express would use the film’s theme as their own theme music) but from the fact that they all dressed in black, drove black cars and were out partying past midnight.[8] Together the three men would win the AWA Southern Tag Team title in the CWA and invoke a rule that would later be referred to as the Freebird Rule, which allowed any two of the three men to defend the titles on a given night so that their opponents never knew what combination to expect.[9] The Midnight Express would lose the AWA Southern tag team title to Bobby Eaton and Sweet Brown Sugar before returning to SECW in the spring of 1982.[5]

In Southeastern Championship Wrestling, the Midnight Express would win the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title a further six times. The Express won and lost the titles to such teams as Jimmy Golden and Robert Fuller, Mongolian Stomper and Stomper Jr., "Dizzy" Ed Hogan and Ken Lucas and Brad and Scott Armstrong.[5]

Pretty Young Things (1983–1985)

Main article: Pretty Young Things

The Midnight Express disbanded in late 1983 when Norvell Austin went back to the CWA in Memphis and Dennis Condrey moved on to Mid-South Wrestling. In Memphis Austin became a part of Jimmy Hart's stable of wrestlers known as the First Family.

During a tag-team tournament in 1984 Norvell Austin was teamed up with the masked Stagger Lee on "Fargo's Fabulous Ones" (Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert). During the course of the match Stagger Lee's mask was removed to reveal the man beneath it (Koko B. Ware), something which prompted a heel turn for Ware. Austin and Ware became a regular tag team dubbed the "Pretty Young Things" or "PYT Express".[10] The two men soon began wearing red leather jackets and each had a single white glove on in an obvious imitation of Michael Jackson to further enhance their "pretty boy" image, and even used Jackson's song of the same name as their entrance music.[3]

The team managed to defeat the colossal team of Elijah Akeem and Kareem Mohammad for the AWA Southern Tag Team titles in February 1984 although they would only hang onto the gold for a little under 2 weeks before Akeem and Mohammad regained the titles.[5] the PYT Express remained in Memphis for a period of time after this before moving on to other promotions such as World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas and later on Championship Wrestling from Florida. On February 26, 1985, Austin and Ware defeat Jay and Mark Youngblood to win the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship. Two weeks later on March 5, 1985 the team lost the titles to the Youngbloods.[5]

After dropping the gold in Florida the Pretty Young Things returned to the federation that first put them together, the Continental Wrestling Association where they won the AWA Southern Tag Team titles twice, both times from The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) as they feuded with the top face team of the promotion.[5][11]

Late career (1985–1986, 2004)

By the end of the summer of 1985 the Pretty Young Things went their separate ways with Austin returning to his old stomping grounds in Southeast Championship Wrestling. In SECW Austin was teamed up with fellow African American Brickhouse Brown to form a team called "Soul Patrol". On September 23, 1985, the Soul Patrol defeated the Nightmares to win the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship, which was Norvell Austin's tenth reign with that particular title. The Soul Patrol lost the championship to the Nightmares only a few weeks later on.[5] After the Soul Patrol broke up Austin became involved in a heated storyline with the at the time reigning NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Champion "Exotic" Adrian Street. On January 6, 1986, Austin defeated Street for the title and held on to it until Street with the help of his valet Miss Linda regained the title on February 17, 1986.

In the late 1980s Norvell Austin retired from professional wrestling, but has made a few special "Legends" appearances in the last couple of years, last time on September 25, 2004 where he teamed with Randy Rose to defeat the team of Texas Roughrider and Luke Goldberg in Continental Wrestling.[12]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Greg Oliver & Steve Johnson (2005). "Integrating the south". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 140–143. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  2. ^ Pope, Kristian & Whebbe, Ray (2003). The Encyclopedia of Professional Wrestling: 100 Years of History, Headlines & Hitmakers. Krause Publications. pp. 159, 210, 225. ISBN 978-0-87349-625-4.
  3. ^ a b Greg Oliver & Steve Johnson (2005). "Imitation is the sinceres form of flattery". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 261–264. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  4. ^ a b Gordon, Robert (2001-10-30). It came from Memphis. Pocket Book. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7434-1045-8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. ^ Lawler, Jerry (2002). It's good to be the King… Sometimes.
  7. ^ Greg Oliver & Steve Johnson (2005). "the Top 20: 10 The Midnight Express". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 58–62. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  8. ^ Greg Oliver & Steve Johnson (2005). "the Top 20: 10 The Midnight Express". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6. “At once time, we all dressed in black. We had black Lincolns, black automobiles and everything else, and we were all out until midnight, so we went as the Midnight Express.
  9. ^ Greg Oliver & Steve Johnson (2005). "the Top 20: 7 The Fabulous Freebirds". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 46–52. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  10. ^ Tim Dills. "Kayfabe Memories: Memphis/CWA (11-2)". Retrieved 3 April 2007.
  11. ^ Greg Oliver & Steve Johnson (2005). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
  12. ^ "Norvell Austin Profile". onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  13. ^ Hoops, Brian (January 15, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/15): Big John Studd wins 1989 Royal Rumble". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  14. ^ a b Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006) [2000.]. "(Memphis, Nashville) Tennessee: Southern Tag Team Title [Roy Welsch & Nick Gulas, Jerry Jarrett from 1977]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, Ontario: Archeus Communications. pp. 185–189. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  15. ^ a b "Southern Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved January 19, 2020.

External links

  • Norvell Austin's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database

January 06, 2023
norvell, austin, born, march, 1951, retired, american, professional, wrestler, austin, worked, most, career, southern, united, states, most, often, team, competition, most, famous, teaming, with, sputnik, monroe, first, mixed, races, villainous, teams, seen, s. Norvell Austin born March 9 1951 is a retired American professional wrestler Austin worked for most of his career in the Southern United States most often in tag team competition Norvell Austin is most famous for teaming with Sputnik Monroe in one of the first mixed races villainous teams seen in the south 1 Austin was also part of the original Midnight Express from 1981 to 1983 2 Later on he would team with Koko B Ware as one half of the Pretty Young Things 3 Norvell AustinBorn 1951 03 09 March 9 1951 age 71 Pensacola Florida United StatesProfessional wrestling careerRing name s Black PantherThe Junkyard DogNorvell AustinThe ShadowBilled height5 ft 10 in 178 cm Billed weight224 lb 102 kg Billed fromByhalia Mississippi United StatesDebut1971RetiredSeptember 25 2004 Contents 1 Professional wrestling career 1 1 Early career 1971 1981 1 2 The Midnight Express 1981 1983 1 3 Pretty Young Things 1983 1985 1 4 Late career 1985 1986 2004 2 Championships and accomplishments 3 References 4 External linksProfessional wrestling career EditEarly career 1971 1981 Edit Austin began his professional wrestling career in 1971 the Florida Alabama area At the time African American wrestlers in the south were utilized in very specific ways They were mainly restricted to wrestling other African Americans and if they were to wrestle white opponents they were always fan favorites who could not cheat or use underhanded means to beat their white opponents 1 These restrictions meant that Austin worked as a face initially and mainly in singles competition since no all African American tag teams were used at that time 1 In late 1971 Austin along with a man who had been fighting for equality in wrestling for a long time Sputnik Monroe formed a tag team what was unique for the team at the time was that they were heels bad guys a first for the Southern United States wrestling promotions 1 Norvell would dye a blond streak in his hair to match Monroe s and even hinted that Austin could be Sputnik Monroe s son 4 Together the team won the NWA Mid America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship from the team of Bearcat Brown and Len Rossi in May 1972 They d lose the titles to Karl and Kurt Von Brauner about a month later 5 Winning the tag team gold was far from the only achievement Austin and Monroe had while in Mid America in what was a reversal of an infamous angle that saw The Interns paint Bearcat Brown with white paint the heel duo dropped black paint on white wrestler Robert Fuller This lead Sputnik Monroe to state that Black is Beautiful to which Norvell Austin replied White is wonderful something that would become a catch phrase for the team 1 Austin and Monroe also saw success outside the Alabama area where NWA Mid America operated mainly in Florida where they worked for Championship Wrestling from Florida under promoter Eddie Graham In Florida the team won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on October 10 1972 by beating Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden Austin and Monroe held the titles until November 16 1972 when Jack and Jerry Brisco beat them for the titles 5 On October 1 1973 Austin won his first singles title when he became the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Champion something which helped cement Austin Novell as one of the pioneers in breaking down the racial barriers in the south 1 In 1975 Austin teamed up with Rocket Monroe Sputnik s storyline brother to briefly hold the Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling version of the NWA United States tag team titles 5 After working together for three years which saw the team even tour Japan Norvell Austin decided that it was time to work as a singles wrestler ending his association with Sputnik Monroe 4 From 1975 Austin kept working for NWA Mid America both the southern part of the territory that was promoted by Nick Gulas and the northern part promoted by Jerry Jarrett that would later split off and become Continental Wrestling Association CWA 6 Despite wanting to wrestle more as a singles wrestler Austin was usually booked in the tag team division teaming with for instance Butch Malone to win the NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship 5 After the title loss Austin was given an opportunity to feud with his former partner Butch Malone for a brief period of time The feud with Malone did not convince the bookers to give Austin more of a singles push but instead put him back in the tag team division with a variety of partners such as Bill Dundee Pat Barrett and Jimmy Golden all of whom he held tag team championships in NWA Mid America or Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling renamed Southeast Championship Wrestling SECW in 1978 5 The Midnight Express 1981 1983 Edit Main article The Midnight Express In 1980 a new team was formed in Southeast Championship Wrestling when Dennis Condrey s previous partner Don Carson retired Condrey teamed up with Randy Rose and won the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship shortly after they started teaming up 5 The team started a storyline feud with Austin who wrestled as The Junkyard Dog before the more famous version of the Junkyard Dog used the name in wrestling Austin recruited various partners such as Paul Orndorff who were successful in capturing the Southeast tag team gold briefly 5 In an attempt to throw Rose and Condrey off Austin would adopt the masked persona of The Shadow and together with Brad Armstrong defeat the team for the Southeast tag team gold on May 4 1981 and held onto the gold until July 27 1981 where Condrey and Rose regained the titles After the title loss Austin turned on Armstrong and joined up with Condrey and Rose to form a stable group known as The Midnight Express 7 In the book The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams Condrey explains that the name did not stem from the movie Midnight Express although later versions of the Midnight Express would use the film s theme as their own theme music but from the fact that they all dressed in black drove black cars and were out partying past midnight 8 Together the three men would win the AWA Southern Tag Team title in the CWA and invoke a rule that would later be referred to as the Freebird Rule which allowed any two of the three men to defend the titles on a given night so that their opponents never knew what combination to expect 9 The Midnight Express would lose the AWA Southern tag team title to Bobby Eaton and Sweet Brown Sugar before returning to SECW in the spring of 1982 5 In Southeastern Championship Wrestling the Midnight Express would win the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title a further six times The Express won and lost the titles to such teams as Jimmy Golden and Robert Fuller Mongolian Stomper and Stomper Jr Dizzy Ed Hogan and Ken Lucas and Brad and Scott Armstrong 5 Pretty Young Things 1983 1985 Edit Main article Pretty Young Things The Midnight Express disbanded in late 1983 when Norvell Austin went back to the CWA in Memphis and Dennis Condrey moved on to Mid South Wrestling In Memphis Austin became a part of Jimmy Hart s stable of wrestlers known as the First Family During a tag team tournament in 1984 Norvell Austin was teamed up with the masked Stagger Lee on Fargo s Fabulous Ones Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert During the course of the match Stagger Lee s mask was removed to reveal the man beneath it Koko B Ware something which prompted a heel turn for Ware Austin and Ware became a regular tag team dubbed the Pretty Young Things or PYT Express 10 The two men soon began wearing red leather jackets and each had a single white glove on in an obvious imitation of Michael Jackson to further enhance their pretty boy image and even used Jackson s song of the same name as their entrance music 3 The team managed to defeat the colossal team of Elijah Akeem and Kareem Mohammad for the AWA Southern Tag Team titles in February 1984 although they would only hang onto the gold for a little under 2 weeks before Akeem and Mohammad regained the titles 5 the PYT Express remained in Memphis for a period of time after this before moving on to other promotions such as World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas and later on Championship Wrestling from Florida On February 26 1985 Austin and Ware defeat Jay and Mark Youngblood to win the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship Two weeks later on March 5 1985 the team lost the titles to the Youngbloods 5 After dropping the gold in Florida the Pretty Young Things returned to the federation that first put them together the Continental Wrestling Association where they won the AWA Southern Tag Team titles twice both times from The Fabulous Ones Steve Keirn and Stan Lane as they feuded with the top face team of the promotion 5 11 Late career 1985 1986 2004 Edit By the end of the summer of 1985 the Pretty Young Things went their separate ways with Austin returning to his old stomping grounds in Southeast Championship Wrestling In SECW Austin was teamed up with fellow African American Brickhouse Brown to form a team called Soul Patrol On September 23 1985 the Soul Patrol defeated the Nightmares to win the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship which was Norvell Austin s tenth reign with that particular title The Soul Patrol lost the championship to the Nightmares only a few weeks later on 5 After the Soul Patrol broke up Austin became involved in a heated storyline with the at the time reigning NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Champion Exotic Adrian Street On January 6 1986 Austin defeated Street for the title and held on to it until Street with the help of his valet Miss Linda regained the title on February 17 1986 In the late 1980s Norvell Austin retired from professional wrestling but has made a few special Legends appearances in the last couple of years last time on September 25 2004 where he teamed with Randy Rose to defeat the team of Texas Roughrider and Luke Goldberg in Continental Wrestling 12 Championships and accomplishments EditChampionship Wrestling from Florida NWA Florida Tag Team Championship 1 time with Sputnik Monroe 5 NWA United States Tag Team Championship Florida version 1 time with Koko B Ware 5 Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling Southeastern Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Championship 1 time 5 NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship Northern Division 1 time 5 NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship 10 times with Jimmy Golden 1 Paul Orndorff 1 Brad Armstrong 1 Dennis Condrey 3 Randy Rose 3 Brickhouse Brown 1 5 NWA Southeastern United States Junior Heavyweight Championship 2 times 5 NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship 1 time with Butch Malone 5 NWA United States Tag Team Championship Gulf Coast Version 1 time with Rocket Monroe 5 13 NWA Mid America Continental Wrestling Association AWA Southern Tag Team Championship 6 times with Bill Dundee 1 Dennis Condrey 1 Randy Rose 1 and Koko B Ware 3 14 15 NWA Southern Tag Team Championship Mid America version 2 times with Sputnik Monroe 1 and Pat Barrett 1 14 15 References Edit a b c d e f Greg Oliver amp Steve Johnson 2005 Integrating the south The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams ECW Press pp 140 143 ISBN 978 1 55022 683 6 Pope Kristian amp Whebbe Ray 2003 The Encyclopedia of Professional Wrestling 100 Years of History Headlines amp Hitmakers Krause Publications pp 159 210 225 ISBN 978 0 87349 625 4 a b Greg Oliver amp Steve Johnson 2005 Imitation is the sinceres form of flattery The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams ECW Press pp 261 264 ISBN 978 1 55022 683 6 a b Gordon Robert 2001 10 30 It came from Memphis Pocket Book p 38 ISBN 978 0 7434 1045 8 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Royal Duncan amp Gary Will 2006 Wrestling Title Histories 4th ed Archeus Communications ISBN 0 9698161 5 4 Lawler Jerry 2002 It s good to be the King Sometimes Greg Oliver amp Steve Johnson 2005 the Top 20 10 The Midnight Express The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams ECW Press pp 58 62 ISBN 978 1 55022 683 6 Greg Oliver amp Steve Johnson 2005 the Top 20 10 The Midnight Express The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams ECW Press p 59 ISBN 978 1 55022 683 6 At once time we all dressed in black We had black Lincolns black automobiles and everything else and we were all out until midnight so we went as the Midnight Express Greg Oliver amp Steve Johnson 2005 the Top 20 7 The Fabulous Freebirds The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams ECW Press pp 46 52 ISBN 978 1 55022 683 6 Tim Dills Kayfabe Memories Memphis CWA 11 2 Retrieved 3 April 2007 Greg Oliver amp Steve Johnson 2005 The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame The Tag Teams ECW Press ISBN 978 1 55022 683 6 Norvell Austin Profile onlineworldofwrestling com Retrieved 2007 07 30 Hoops Brian January 15 2019 Pro wrestling history 01 15 Big John Studd wins 1989 Royal Rumble Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online Retrieved January 18 2019 a b Duncan Royal Will Gary 2006 2000 Memphis Nashville Tennessee Southern Tag Team Title Roy Welsch amp Nick Gulas Jerry Jarrett from 1977 Wrestling title histories professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present Waterloo Ontario Archeus Communications pp 185 189 ISBN 0 9698161 5 4 a b Southern Tag Team Title Wrestling Titles Retrieved January 19 2020 External links EditNorvell Austin s profile at Cagematch net Wrestlingdata com Internet Wrestling Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Norvell Austin amp oldid 1125874305, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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