Wrestling / Low Ki

The Professional

Low Ki (real name Brandon Silvestry, born September 6, 1979) is an American professional wrestler who has worked primarily in the indies, most notably Ring of Honor, though his first break came from the Long Island Wrestling Federation when he won their Light Heavyweight title. He has also had turns in England's Frontier Wrestling Alliance, Impact Wrestling (as Senshi in his 2006-08 run), and WWE as Kaval. He has wrestled extensively in Japan, most notably New Japan Pro-Wrestling where he is a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Some of Low Ki's standout championship title runs are as the World Xtreme Wrestling Cruiserweight Champion, Jersey All Pro Wrestling Light Heavyweight Champion, victor of the Super Indy Championship in the International Wrestling Cartel, the top Champion of Future Wrestling Alliance, Jersey Championship Wrestling, Future Of Wrestling, JAPW, Impact Championship Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerilla and Major League Wrestling. Concerning the X-Division Championship which he held twice, he was TNA's second ever title holder. Low Ki has been a part of several tag team title runs with Mafia, Xavier, Elix Skipper, Christopher Daniels, Spanky, American Dragon and Michael McGillicutty. He has also scored accomplishments such as winning the East Coast Wrestling Association Super 8 Tournament, PWG's Battle of Los Angeles, and the second season of NXT.

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World Warrior Tropes:

• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: After enduring several varieties of chair shot throughout their first Impact Championship Wrestling match, Low Ki got fed up and threw the chair over the top rope, where it hit Sabu as he was looking for another.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: He once wrestled in a suit at Wrestle Kingdom 7. He apparently took a liking to it as he later wrestled in his suit full time between 2017 and 2018.
• Bait-and-Switch: When he was in the Rottweilers, the opening notes of "Born in China" would be cut out by a gunshot and then the instrumental to "Realist Killaz".
• Bash Brothers: Besides those he held tag team titles with, Gedo, Jado, Homicide (in a team nicknamed Yaju or "Wild Beasts" in Japan), 2 Cold Scorpio, SUWA, Bison Smith and Bengala, though not all at the same time since some of their paths did not cross.
• Bathos: He stalks out to the ring in a manner reminiscent of Goldberg, but Goldberg is twice Low Ki's size. Ditto for his Sumo Wrestling stomps.
• Bilingual Bonus
  • His TNA (second run) and WWE ring names, "Senshi" and "Kawal" (which was later changed to "Kaval"), are Japanese and Tagalog for "Soldier", respectively.
  • Low Ki's interruption of El Generico's EVOLVE promo video and answer to his challenge is mostly Spanish.
  • He and Seiya Sanada tease Robbie E and Jessie Godderz in Japanese, to their confusion.
• Boastful Rap: As Kaval during NXT, he rapped about how awesome he is compared to the other rookies. It was so out of left field, with him audibly searching for exactly what to say about the rookies, that it became meme worthy.
• Bookends: His first and last match on SmackDown was against Drew McIntyre.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase: In EVOLVE
  "Beat me if you can, survive if I let you!"
• Brooklyn Rage: Defied, or maybe not. Low Ki himself does not believe he embodies the trope and in fact works to make sure he does not. Other wrestlers still accuse him of playing it straight however.
• By the Hair: Maybe its because his hair is never very long but Low Ki has a bad habit of putting his hands in other people's.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Double stomp! Ki Krusher!"
• Captain Ersatz: In Fire Pro Wrestling, though it was explicitly Low Ki in Returns.
• Catchphrase: From at least Zero 1 onward: "It is not the size of the fighter, but the size of the fight he will bring!"
• Chairman of the Brawl
  • Subverted in Jersey All Pro in a non title match with the tag team champions, the Hit Squad, he pulled out a chair as if to hit Mafia but instead sat Mafia down in it before moving out of the way of a Homicide Dive.
  • He threw a chair at Tammy Lynn Sytch (after she had taken off her shoe and hit him with it).
  • Subverted at NJPW Fight for Existence II, in which he threw a chair at Ryusuke Taguchi, who caught it and then was immediately chewed out by the referee, who demanded he put it down. Low Ki then drop kicked Taguchi while he was pleading innocence.
• Challenge Seeker: He has been calling for a match with UFC veteran Georges St. Pierre for over a decade.
• Combat Commentator: For EVOLVE.
• Combination Attack
  • Used his diving foot stomp (Ghetto Stomp) with Homcide's vertebreaker (cop killer) to take out Jay Lethal in Ring of Honor (and many others elsewhere). The two have also used a Doomsday Ace Crusher, double push kicks, double arm wrench while squeezing head between boots then flexing their biceps.
  • A tree of woe to a triple baseball slide with Ricky Marvin and KENTA.
• The Comically Serious
  • This was seemingly supposed to make him the bad guy in Zero 1 but maybe not, since it had the opposite effect. ESPECIALLY the case during NXT as he had LayCool as his "pro/s". His main interaction with them was standing there, silent, holding both copies of the WWE Women's Title belts, while Michelle McCool and Layla cranked up the bubbly airhead factor.
  • TNA had a segment involving Rockstar Spud, Ethan Carter III and the Bromans all trying to make Low Ki laugh. The winner was Seiya Sanada.
• Commuting on a Bus: His frequent and short runs with TNA.
• Continuity Nod: Mentioned moments regarding Eddie Guerrero on NXT, which fans of Impact Championship Wrestling recognized as references to Low Ki's title defense, where Eddie insisted on Low Ki winning clean.
• Contortionist: One of his signature moves is to bend his leg behind his back and then let it fall on his opponent's head (before rubbing his bald/shaved head, as Homicide does). MVP tells a story about how he once tried to stop Kaval kicking him by standing on his foot only to immediately get a shot in the back of the head, at first believing someone else had kicked him.
• Cut Short: He was in route for another shot at the PWG World Championship belt when WWE came calling...
• Death from Above: While not the central part of his repertoire, outside of the Warrior's Way/Ghetto Stomp, his high flying offense was a central attraction for Ring of Honor (actually, Low Ki's enemies Special K and Amazing Red were much more flippy but Low Ki was doing stuff many people had never seen before).
• Determinator: His early gimmick in Ring of Honor, leading up to him winning its newly created championship belt, was a hatred of being pinned and a refusal to tap out. Unfortunately, this lead to him passing out in a match with American Dragon.
• Diabolus ex Machina: There never was a true in-universe explanation for Low Ki and Samoa Joe's entry into MVP's Beat Down Clan. The closest we got was MVP elaborating on behind-the-scenes ties and referring to them as his "family".
• The Dreaded: "Mr. Wrestling" Steve Corino described Low Ki as demonic and protested that whoever booked ROH's shows should not put him in the ring with a good Christian like AJ Styles.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Several years before joining the WWE as Kaval, Low Ki was in a number of meaningless matches on WWE's C-shows Jakked and Metal.
• Easy Come, Easy Go:
  • He beat Billy Fives for the Future Of Wrestling Title belt and then lost it back to Billy Fives a day later.
  • He and Michael McGuillicutty won the FCW Tag Team Titles from Los Aviadores, only to lose them back to said team the following day.
  • He survived five minutes against Big Show to earn a spot on Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights, only for Tyler Reks^note  Now Gabbi Tuft to come out to challenge him and defeat him to take his spot.
• Eccentric Mentor: Homicide was the one who taught him how to wrestle and feuded with Jim Cornette in an attempt to get Low Ki reinstated into Ring of Honor. Jim Kettner helped train him too but was more reclusive, and taught Low Ki more along the lines of business sense than wrestling.
• Finishing Stomp: His Warrior's Way/Ghetto Stomp Finishing Move, where he jumps halfway across the ring and lands on you. It was sometimes preceded by an uncharacteristically high pitched Kiai.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel:
  • In Japan, specifically claiming the wrestlers of Pro Wrestling ZERO1 did not respect him because of his smaller than average size and lashed out at them for this perceived offense (he's actually about average, just small for a wrestler). However, AJ Styles out did Low Ki in this area.
  • He agreed to work for Konnan and La Legion Extranjera in AAA, briefly qualifying him in Mexico as well.
• Friendly Enemy: To ICW Heavyweight Champion Ricky Reyes while Low Ki was TNA X-Division Champion.
• Game of Nerds: He was impressed to see Japanese wrestling promotions recruiting from baseball teams.
• Gamebreaking Injury:
  • Only reigned as the Pro Wrestling Guerilla World Champion for a month due to an injury.
  • He retired from professional wrestling after receiving an abdominal injury in a match with Akebono for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Rumors of his retirement had been in circulation all year so perhaps it was merely the straw that broke the camel's back (belly). Low Ki would eventually return from this though.
• His Own Worst Enemy: While he's incredibly talented and has had a successful career, he's known to be very difficult to work with. This has resulted in him burning bridges with several promotions he's competed in and not being a lot more successful than he already is. Jeff Jarrett and Konnan have even stated in separate interviews that he's exactly this.
• Human Ladder: Low Ki has both the agility and balance to leap on stand on another man's shoulders, assuming they do not collapse under his weight, at which point he will either give them a front dropkick or just jump off and kick the back of their heads. (ask Husky Harris and MVP, they know)
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Low Ki is from the same generation of indy talent as CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe, and is widely regarded to be just as talented as they are — he was even the first ROH World Champion, a championship one of them (AJ) never won. Yet, while he had a relatively successful career, it pales in comparison to the success they have all had, due to him being notoriously difficult to work with which has gotten him banned from several top indy feds and major promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling. While Low Ki has found success again in MLW, one can't help but wonder how much more successful he could've been if he hadn't gotten in his own way.
• I Have Many Names: Besides Low Ki, Senshi and Kaval^note originally Kawal, he was known as Kwick Kick (based on Akira Maeda's old ring name) in the X Wrestling Federation
• I Know Karate: and Aikido too.
• I Know You Know I Know:
  • Low Ki's feud with Prince Devitt in a nutshell. At NJPW Power Struggle 2012 for instance, they both wanted to put each other through a table, which remained unbroken the entire show.
  • Manik had DJ Z in a reverse Indian death lock during a triple threat match in which Low Ki kicked Manik, both to hurt him and to make him apply more pressure DJ Z. About three or four in Manik went to block a kick but Low Ki knew he would and so kneed him but Manik knew that was coming which caused him to catch Low Ki in a Northern Lights suplex with the death lock still applied. Of course, both Manick and Low Ki were Suicide so of course they knew. There subsequent encounters have had increasingly intricate sequences of trying to out guess each other.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Sometimes billed as Loki, such as in American Combat Wrestling and WWF. He was Kawal in FCW but then became Kaval.
• Ink Blot Test: Senshi was given one on TNA. Apparently everything looks like a warrior to him.
• Jack of All Stats: He's a really well rounded wrestler. He primarily uses a variety of chops and kicks, a lot of chops and kicks, and his finishing move is a diving stomp, but he also has a bevy of suplexes, he also has a fantastic Phoenix Splash (corkscrew 450) and has won several matches by submission (usually with his Dragon Clutch, which, as its name says, is a hybrid of a Dragon Sleeper and a Camel Clutch).
• Jobber: His run with WWE, as Kaval, was this trope played disastrously straight. To a lesser extent, he was also a jobber when he appeared on WWF Metal and Jakked but Low Ki looked better there, for the most part.
• Lightning Bruiser: Never mind his speed, ferocity and endurance, Low Ki is deceptively strong, his Ki Krusher '99 involves lifting the opponent up as a fisherman suplex and dropping them right on their head.
• Masked Luchador: Was the voice for Suicide for the TNA videogame.
• No-Sell: On the independent wrestling scene, Low Ki is booked as an extremely dominant wrestler that you can beat the crap out of, but because he's such a Determinator badass he'll react with just a glare and a scowl.
• Not so Fast, Bucko!: Low Ki's ladder match with Xavier for the Impact Championship Wrestling title ended in possibly the most definitive way possible, with Xavier's unconscious form draped across two ladders and Low Ki sitting on top of him, hold the belt above his head. But then Xavier slid off, sending them both crashing down to the mat and then Xavier woke up, grabbed the title belt and declared himself champion. The referee agreed with him, but another ref came out to say that was bull because Low Ki had already retrieved the belt and because of his disagreement? The match was restarted.
• Not So Similar:
  • On Impact Championship Wrestling's debut show, he faced off with Yoshihiro Tajiri and the two started off with a similar approach, leading to many accidental parries and counters. As the match progressed though, it became clear Tajiri was much sillier than the ever serious Low Ki. Low Ki also briefly lost his composure at the sight of the green mist.
  • To a lesser extent, this was also true of KENTA in Ring of Honor, in that Kenta isn't quite as goofy or pragmatic as Tajiri, he still comes off that way compared to the constantly scowling Low Ki.
• Odd Friendship
  • People are generally used to it, since they have been together for so long, but Low Ki and Homicide don't have a whole lot in common at first, or even second glance. While Low Ki is all about control and almost always stern, Homicide is wild, quick to laugh and at the same time more temperamental.
  • On screen, Kaval was surprisingly tolerant of LayCool. Off screen, Low Ki did not have a many positive feelings regarding NXT but legitimately did enjoy working with McCool and Layla.
• Persona Non Grata: Jim Cornette banned Low Ki from Ring of Honor for life after Jim Cornette "discovered" that Low Ki was the one responsible for breaking his tooth, an injury he originally blamed on the invading CZW wrestlers.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Low Ki is a small wrestler, he usually weighs in between 160 lbs to 176-which is still 4 too short of heavyweight to most promotions who actually care about that kind of thing. That doesn't stop him from tearing you to pieces with his chops and kicks. He was able to lift Raven, who outweighed him by 84 lbs, up to the top turn buckle, by the head, while standing behind him on the ring apron.
• Power Stable
  • The Strong Style Thugs would go from tag team to stable when B-Boy and Hotstuff Hernandez joined
  • The Rottweilers with Ricky Reyes, Rocky Romero and Homicide. The other three campaigned to get Low Ki reinstated in ring of honor after Jim Cornette banned him for knocking out one of his teeth.
  • He was part of three stables in NJPW:
    • "RISE" with Shinsuke Nakamura, Giant Bernard, Travis Tomko, and, Hirooki Goto, Minoru, and Prince Devitt in New Japan.
    • He would later betray RISE for "Great Bash Heel" with Giant Bernard, Rick Fuller, Black Tiger, Karl Anderson, MVP (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano) and Val Venis. He later joined Great Bash Heel's spiritual successor "Chaos" with Gedo, Jado and Rocky Romero, reuniting with Nakamura.
  • Was somewhere in Vince Russo's gigantic "Sports Entertainment Xtreme" TNA stable. Later joined with MVP, Kenny King and Samoa Joe to form the Beat Down Clan and even joined LAX for a brief time during his latest run with the company.
  • Was the top guy in Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado stable in MLW, though it was more of a working relationship with his management office, Black Friday Management rather than actually being part of the stable.
• Power Trio: Triple X in TNA with Christopher Daniels and "Prime Time" Elix Skipper. Also would attend LayCool during his time on NXT, even off of the show proper as a bystander.
• Prophecy Twist
  • An Accidental Pun but Christopher Daniels of the Ring of Honor Prophecy stable declared he would never again wrestle Low Ki unless it was for the Ring of Honor Championship belt. After he badmouthed Ring of Honor to declare his permanent allegiance to TNA however, Daniels found himself scheduled to wrestle Jushin Thunder Liger, who decided to drop out and have Daniels face his substitute, Senshi.
  • Another Accidental one in TNA, Low Ki's declaration that teaming with Samoa Joe would "Guarantee Victory" seemed to be proven false when he and Joe were eliminated in the tournament to receive a shot at the American Wolves by Matt and Jeff Hardy. However, Joe, who was already X Division Champion at the time, was injured in the match and had to vacate the belt, which Low Ki went on to win while Joe recovered.
• Punch Parry: A kick version when Low Ki and Xavier's kicks have collided unintentionally. As a result, Ring of Honor newcomer AJ Styles thought he could beat Low Ki at kicks and challenged him so he could prove it. Eventually in the flurry they accidentally knocked ankles, putting a quick stop that little exchange.
• Real Men Wear Pink: During his time with LayCool, Kaval could be frequently seen in a pink polo shirt. Less dignified, his "Property of LayCool" shirt.
• Red Baron: "The World Warrior" in JAPW. He now goes by "The Lone Wolf of Brooklyn" and "The Professional".
• The Rival
  • Christopher Daniels was Low Ki's biggest enemy in Ring of Honor but most regular partner in TNA. Back to back.
  • Faced Homicide in UPW, JAPW, Zero 1, 3PW, FWA, IWO and MLW. However, they also teamed in JAPW, Zero 1 and NJPW and ROH.
  • Homicide and Low Ki started out teaming against Jay Lethal while he was being mentored by Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor. Low Ki and Lethal then had several matches in TNA's X Division.
  • While he and Mafia were tag team partners in Jersey Championship Wrestling, they were part of rival tag teams in Jersey All Pro Wrestling and USA Pro Wrestling, Mafia being part of the Hit Squad with Monsta Mack, Low Ki being part of the Strong Style Thugs with Homicide and teaming with Xavier.
  • His rivalry with Tiger Mask IV started at NWA Midwest No Gimmicks Needed but really took off in New Japan.
  • Ryusuke Taguchi was his most consistent rival in New Japan, though Prince Devitt is probably his most high profile, incidentally, Devitt and Taguichi operated as the tag team Apollo 55.
• Rival Turned Evil
  • Xavier was Low Ki's partner and helped him win the Eastern Coast Wrestling Association tag team titles and the USA Pro tag team titles. But then Xavier joined Christopher Daniel's Prophecy, whose goal was to destroy Ring of Honor, a goal which Low Ki opposed.
  • Low Ki was this trope to Samoa Joe, they had started out friendly when Low Ki had his first successful title defense against Joe and shook his hand afterwards. But upon his hiatus and return to Ring of Honor, Low Ki who was now aligned the Rottweilers, spat on the Ring of Honor title belt after seeing Samoa Joe won it while he was away from the company. He also spat at Lethal's mother.
• The Scapegoat: After winning the second season of NXT due to public vote, Vince McMahon was furious that the audience voted for Kaval over his chosen winner, Alex Riley. He subsequently told the rest of the NXT 2 rookies to go out there and beat him down in what has become one of the worst moments in modern WWE history due to poor booking (the pros were given no direction, so were left questioning if they were supposed to run down & help) and an atrocious promo by Michael McGillicutty. Kaval was booked as a jobber for several months, before he asked for his release from the company.
• Serious Business: Wrestling is serious business for Low Ki, not only is he a stickler for kayfabe, but his gimmick is always played straight. In EVOLVE, he specifically stated his goal was to take his profession "back" from the complacent, the boys and the actors who thought they could be pro wrestlers.
• Shadow Archetype: While the differences between him and Xavier were pretty obvious, they were a lot more alike than they cared to admit.
• Shaking the Rump: Ryusuke Taguchi had a tendency to taunt him this way. At NJPW's Attack On East Coast 2011, Low Ki returned the favor when the Strong Style Thugs got Apollo 55.
• Shout-Out:
  • Low Ki is a reference to the song "No Diggity".
  • He's used "Born In China" as an entrance theme.
  • He competed at Wrestle Kingdom 7 dressed as Agent 47.
  • His Black Friday Management faction in MLW’s original run with Homicide and Gary Hart is one to Beanie Sigel’s “The Truth”, which is also the group’s entrance theme.
• Signature Move: A spring board Enzuigiri he calls tidal wave, a cartwheel into a face kick called Tidal Crush. Three elbow strikes while standing in the corner, drop kick to put them there optional. An elevated cloverleaf he calls the Final Four. The Matrix dodge, The Bite of the Dragon (hanging inverted facelock), rolling wheel kick/rolling koppu kick, Black Magic (a shining wizard feint), a Double Underhook Suplex (Dragon Wing), Mongolian Chop, and he is also somewhat known for using the Ki Crusher in Ring of Honor and ZERO-ONE.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Though he is undeniably talented, many reports from the various indy promotions he has worked for has painted him as an egomaniac with a very high opinion of himself. This was pretty much his gimmick during his 2008 run in New Japan.
• Spam Attack
  • His reaction to AJ Styles repeatedly kicking out of all his signature moves was to pick AJ off the mat by his head and just start kicking a whole lot (AJ kicked out of that too). Repeating this action lead to AJ pinning him.
  • Low Ki's partial to Sumo like flurries of open palm strikes. No, he can't hit as hard as someone like Joe but his idea is to simply hit faster in more frequent intervals to negate the power advantage.
• Spirited Competitor: Low Ki's beat the champion, the belt is his, he can call himself the best wrestler here! But there are other companies, other champions to beat. He's always looking for that next challenge.
• Squash Match: His debut at EVOLVE 10: A Tribute to the Arena was a bait and switch against the supposed monster Ahtu, whom he dropped with one koppu kick. The next two moves were a formality(they needed a quick finish as Ahtu actually got hurt)
• Tag Line: For Fight Camp, which he works at in Tampa Florida, "Train Like The Pros Without The Blows". Low Ki helps people learn to get in fight shape without actually having to fight.
• Tag Team: Strong Style Thugs with Homicide.
• Take That!: During his time on NXT, Kaval was given the challenge of rapping. The final line of the rap saw him declare "I'm the only reason for Total Nonstop Action".
• Token Good Teammate: When he was with LayCool.
• Token Trio: Gender flipped with him and LayCool. He's of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, McCool is white, and Layla is English.
• Training Montage: In a commercial for the Fight2BeFit facility.
• Tournament Arc
  • At ECWA's fifth Super 8, Low Ki defeated American Dragon in the finals. In APW's King Of The Indies tournament they met again in the finals and American Dragon won.
  • In Jersey Championship Wrestling Low-Ki defeated Qenaan Creed in the finals of their 2001 J-Cup
  • Low Ki and Airborne went over Jayson Reign and Christopher Daniels to take the MCW Tag Team Titles in the T-3 Tournament
  • He and Christopher Daniels won TNA's NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament in 2003
  • Joined AJ Styles and Samoa Joe to win AAA's 2006 Torneo de Atomicos. Homicide was with them too but dropped out after a disqualification in the semi finals.
  • Beat Arik Cannon and Roderick Strong at the end of the two night long 2006 Ted Petty Invitational held by IWA M-S
  • In 2008 he took down Chris Hero to win the Pro Wrestling Guerilla Battle Of Los Angeles, where the ring had been so damaged by previous matches only the top rope was attached.
• Underwear of Power: Low Ki's usual wear, along with tights. With the Rottweilers, he wears baggy pants.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The end of an era match he had with Sonjay Dutt in USA Pro is believed by many to be Low Ki's best match ever. Low Ki himself agrees it is one of his better matches, or rather says he would if it had happened in a different promotion. This stance is part of the reason why a lot of people do not like him personally, even if they are fans of his work.
• Ur-Example: Became the first ever Ring of Honor Champion, beating Prince Nana and Amazing Red in the first two rounds of Road To The Title and defeating Christopher Daniels, Spanky and Doug Williams in a four man ironman match. Also the first winner of the JCW Jersey J-Cup.
• Villain Team-Up: Salina de la Renta personally served as his manager, something she could have easily delegated, given her high standing in MLW.
• Vocal Dissonance: If you are new to Low Ki, just wait until you hear him talk for the first time.
• Wrestling Family: He has a cousin who wrestles as Monsta Mack and was also trained by Homicide.
• Wrestling Psychology
  • He is especially known to be good at working people over, making long term injuries or fatigue easier to sell, his matches with Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor being a shining example. He is also known for being a fairly stiff worker.
  • Low Ki has previously suggested he wasn't that stiff of a worker, only for MVP to affirm to him that yes he was. However, MVP praised Low Ki for his ability not to hurt people as much as he really could with the moves he does. In fact, during one of his "sessions", MVP called Low Ki and Samoa Joe together and accused them of ruining indy wrestling, and Joe immediately put the blame on Low Ki for going stiff first (the joke being that a lot of wrestlers were trying to have "strong style matches" after seeing Joe and Low Ki have one, but were just stiffness spot monkeys because they had not been to Japan yet, as those two had, and thus really did not know how).

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