Thread: WWE RAW/Smackdown/NXT/Superstars Discussion Thread 2010

RAW Review - 7/26/10

Very average RAW last night. I understand that they are just building towards Summerslam but they could have put a little more effort into the show. I guess they were trying to balance things out with next week's RAW since it was a double taping last night in San Antonio.

John Cena & Chris Jericho Segment

This was pretty entertaining. Cena was good on the mic. Loved it when Jericho came out to talk about how its *his* team and not Cena's team. That's the team of the night really... a team that cannot function together and that would be Cena's team.

Randy Orton vs Jey Uso w/Jimmy Uso & Tamina

The Uso twins are already losing in squash matches.

So much for their push. Obviously, no one is going to expect Jey Uso to pull off the upset against Orton.

But you are not suppose to throw a guy you are/were trying to push into the fire against Orton. It does nothing but make The Usos look even more pathetic.

Final Result: Randy Orton pinned Jey Uso after the RKO.

After the match, Jimmy attacked Orton and ended up looking even weaker because he failed. Sheamus also failed and got RKOed.

Then we see The Miz yet again, teasing the fact that he's going to cash in his contract on the fallen Sheamus. Orton would have none of it because he RKOed The Miz immediately. It would have been funnier if Orton kept being on Sheamus and encouraged The Miz to cash it in, only to RKO him. Oh well.

The Great Khali w/Ranjin Singh vs Edge - If Khali loses, he's off Cena's team

Here's a match I thought I'd never see... It makes sense coming from Edge's standpoint. The Great Khali sucks. Ranjin Singh overheard Edge telling Ted DiBiase backstage that he would take out Khali if he had to was interesting.

This match was really short because Nexus came out and Edge ran away, which got him counted out. It looked like Nexus was going to take out The Great Khali but decided to let him go. I wonder if they're trying to recruit him. Either that, or they're allowing him to stay on Cena's team because he's a weak link.

Final Result: The Great Khali wins by Countout.

7 on 7 Elimination Match: Nexus (Wade Barrett, Darren Young, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Michael Tarver, & Skip Sheffield) vs Team RAW (Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, Yoshi Tatsu, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, Goldust, & Jerry 'The King' Lawler)

Team RAW.

I seriously hope the casual fans didn't think Team RAW had a chance against Nexus.

If anything, I feel bad for Evan Bourne and The Hart Dynasty being stuck with the laughing stock of RAW. I'm very glad that Santino, Kozlov, Regal and Ryder was excluded from this "team". Yoshi Tatsu finally makes an appearance only to get eliminated immediately. How sad.

The point of this match (for anyone with 1/10th of a brain) is to show that Nexus is a "force to be reckoned with". They did exactly that.

Each Nexus member got to showcase their finishers and moves. Out of all of them, Otunga's slam sucks. Tarver had a pretty unique slam and was cool. Sheffield's running clothesline, I can buy that as a finisher. The best one is obviously Justin Gabriel's 450 Splash. But Wade Barrett has the most effective finisher.

It's weird seeing an elimination match scheduled for Summerslam. So much for the concept of Survivor Series and Bragging Rights!

Alicia Fox (Divas Champion) w/Jillian Hall vs Brie Bella w/Nikki Bella

Bella Twins on RAW with no guest host? You know what that means... squash match time!

This match didn't last more than 30 seconds.. seriously. Why bother? That's just a slap in the face once again to the Women's division.

Final Result: Alicia Fox via pinfall.

Ted DiBiase w/Maryse vs John Morrison w/R-Truth

Pretty boring match. Don't really need to hear R-Truth on commentary... he didn't provide anything insightful.

Maryse tries to distract the ref and R-Truth gets involved. Ted DiBiase rolls up Morrison to win. Again, this is just following the storyline of the night. Cena's team can't function together.

Final Result: Ted DiBiase won by pinfall with a roll-up.

Sheamus (WWE Champion) & The Miz (United States Champion) vs John Cena and Chris Jericho

This was an okay match. I didn't enjoy it too much mostly because I was waiting for Jericho to turn on Cena. It's funny how I was thinking... because I was right. Then again, anyone could see that coming a mile away since Jericho and Cena were arguing to start the show.

Really glad to see The Miz get the pinfall on Cena. Sheamus had a "Damn, I wanted to pin him" look on his face.

I know I complain about Cena a lot... and I'll have to complain about him again right here. So Cena ate the Codebreaker, got pinned. Jericho tries to lock in the Wall of Jericho. Cena doesn't sell the codebreaker and counters it immediately with a STF. Are you kidding me?!?! I really... REALLY hate seeing super Cena.

Khali enters the ring to break them up. I liked how Edge came in out of nowhere to spear Khali. Morrison and R-Truth decided to join in the fun and push and shove each other to end the show.

Final Result: The Miz & Sheamus via pinfall over John Cena & Chris Jericho after The Miz pinned John Cena.

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No Bret Hart... he's on his honeymoon I guess. Which means no Bret Hart next week either since they taped next week's RAW already as a part of a double taping.

I wonder if they'll have Cena's team fight each other all the way until Summerslam. Then hopefully Cena will turn heel on his own team at Summerslam after it looks like he finally got them functioning as a team.

Raw:

I like them making the SummerSlam match an elimination match. Those are always better than one fall matches when it comes to big team bouts. The only problem is that we have Bragging Rights and Survivor Series coming up.

I don't think the company has any faith whatsoever in The Usos. Their debut match was on Superstars, and I think they've maybe won one single match since that one. They've done nothing but lose matches during their entire run on Raw- not that anyone expected a change here.

Orton is scary over. He's as close as we're going to get to Stone Cold Steve Austin in this day and age thanks to wrestling not being mainstream, and WWE being PG. But he's great at what he does. The Austin head waggle before RKOing Sheamus; the setup to his RKO in general; the "that's right mother****er" glance from side to side... he's delightfully wicked. I never thought Orton could really work as a face till these last couple months.

Edge vs. Khali was time filler. What a waste of time for Edge and all of us.

The elimination match went about how I expected it to go. It sucks to see Bourne and the Harts down so low on the anti-Nexus totem pole. Every Nexus member got to show their stuff, though, and get a finisher and a pin (Gabriel did his 450 but didn't pin anyone) and the group looked strong. But why was Heath Slater doing the Zig Zag a mere 3 days after Dolph used the move on Smackdown?

I'm not sure about the Truth/Morrison thing. Morrison is more entertaining on the mic as a heel, but works better as a face in a lot of respects. I don't see a turn coming yet, especially with rumors of a Morrison/DiBiase Million Dollar Title match at Night of Champions.

The main event was good, if predictable. I like the story between The Miz and Sheamus, as the two have really good chemistry together. Just don't expect a cash-in anytime soon. Miz getting the pinfall on Cena made me a happy man, and "Team Raw", as expected, continued to experience dissension.

NXT:

Alex Riley showed why he is, far and away, the best mic worker on NXT season 2. "Country mile"? Come on... gotta love that! If you combined his mic skills and Joe Hennig's wrestling skills... damn.

Percy Watson is a guy I like and he needed a win, but my heart bleeds for Zack Ryder. He had been on a modest winning streak, but now he's jobbing on NXT and WHERE THE **** ARE HIS ONE LEGGED TIGHTS?! Don't take away one of the guy's distinguishing traits! And on the same note, I barely recognize Percy without the glasses.

I didn't think I could want anyone gone more than Lucky Cannon, but Eli Cottonwood was just horrible in every way. Seeing him come back to close the show gives me doubts that he'll be gone for good, but wow, he sucks in every possible way. Don't come back.

Husky Harris needed a win, and he got one. I'm just glad he's not gone, since he shows more promise than many rookies on the show. That, combined with his legacy, will get him a spot on Raw or Smackdown. Speaking of Legacy, Cody Rhodes' character has been great, even if he looks a little weird without the knee pads and somewhat resembles Namor, the Sub-Mariner.
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Overall, I enjoyed both shows, though not as much as I did last week. I'm liking the build toward SummerSlam. Only 2 and 1/2 more weeks!

Smackdown Review - 7/30/10

Late review... got lazy over the weekend.

Once again, I thought Smackdown was the better show over RAW. The show just flows much better on Smackdown because they utilize almost all of their stars. Whereas RAW sticks to the main guns and everyone else just seem irrelevant.

Kane's Opening Segment

Kane delivers another brilliant promo. Does he rehearse this or is he a natural? It's extremely believable in terms of promos in the WWE that he is upset about his brother being in a vegetative state. Kane said the Undertaker finally awoken and spoke two words about his attacker before going back to sleep because of his "weakened state".

The two words? Rey Mysterio.

The storyline ties well together, with Undertaker beating Rey Mysterio to qualify for the Fatal Four Way PPV. Then Undertaker is injured and Rey takes advantage of that by eliminating Kane in the Battle Royal to qualify for the PPV. Then Rey beat Swagger at the Fatal Four Way and Kane won the Money in the Bank and cashed it in on Rey. Everything just worked.

Kane mentioned that Rey Mysterio will cease to exist after he puts him in the casket at Summerslam. I would love to see a casket match in person! Unfortunately, I don't think they'll do a casket match without Undertaker in the match.

Christian vs Drew McIntyre

This was a GREAT match. Christian won the match, but I think he did a really good job in making Drew McIntyre look strong throughout the match. I would love it if Drew McIntyre continues going under the ring if he is in trouble only to bait the opponent and then ram their shoulders/arm into the steel.

This match went pretty long but I was entertained the entire time. Christian countered the Future Shock DDT by jumping... that was interesting.

Final Result: Christian by pinfall with a roll up.

Big Show vs Luke Gallows w/Straight Edge Society

This match was quite short. The main point of this is apparently the SES is pissed at Big Show for doing the things he does. He unmasked CM Punk and he also unmasked Joey Mercury. CM Punk was yelling at the SES earlier backstage about how they're nothing without him (which is true... lol).

So SES got Luke Gallows disqualified but that didn't matter. Their goal was to break Show's hand. They trapped the Big Show near the steel steps and everyone stomped on his hand, even Serena. Big Show eventually passed out from the pain and the Straight Edge Society celebrated. Looks like we're getting SES vs Big Show at Summerslam.

Final Result: Big Show won by DQ after SES jumped him.

Kofi Kingston (Intercontinental Champion) vs Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero - If Dolph Ziggler wins, he gets an IC Title Shot next week.

Another really good match but I enjoyed Christian vs Drew McIntyre more. It was pretty back and forth all the way through. The end came when Kofi Kingston went CRAZY and got himself disqualified. If I remember correctly, I think he went insane when Vickie slapped him. It was a different side of Kofi Kingston and I kind of like that.

Dolph Ziggler gets an Intercontinental Championship match next week though.

Final Result: Dolph Ziggler by DQ after Kofi Kingston goes crazy.

Women's Championship Match: Michelle McCool ("Self-professed" Co-Women's Champion) w/Layla (Women's Champion) vs Tiffany w/Kelly Kelly

Tiffany earned a title shot for who knows what reason after Kelly Kelly failed. This match was suppose to be Tiffany vs Layla but the Official SmackDown Consultant Vickie Guerrero had Michelle McCool defend the title instead.

By the way, Kelly Kelly wore a top that looked like it could fall at any second.

Anyway! Michelle McCool reminded us why she's still the best diva wrestler in the WWE. She made short work of Tiffany and reclaimed the Women's Title for Layla.

Final Result: Michelle McCool by pinfall after the hitting the Faithbreaker on Tiffany.

After that, Teddy Long appeared on the titantron and said that there cannot be two Women's champions. He said next week, they have to decide who is champion because if LayCool can't decide... then he will.

No Disqualification Match: Rey Mysterio vs Jack Swagger

I don't see the point of putting these two guys in another match if they aren't going to add Swagger to the World Heavyweight Championship match at Summerslam. Since Smackdown was taped at Corpus Christi, the Gulf of Mexico water came into play yet again.

Since it was a No DQ match, you knew it was going outside. Swagger even wanted to throw Rey Mysterio in there. The match overall was fun. They fought in the crowd, even in the concourse.

When they fought into the concourse though, how did the fans know they would get there? It seems like it was already blocked off so they watched it from there. What was really funny was that 10 people or so came out of the elevator and security had to rush them aside so they won't get in the way. I was thinking... "Why are they not in their seats for the main event?" They looked like they just bought a ton of WWE merchandise.

So Swagger and Mysterio made their way outside. We even had a car slam on their brakes and the driver yelled "What are you doing?! Get off the road!". It looked planned though since the car drove off angry (and it was only 1 car). Also when they went to a wide shot... the roads were clearly blocked off.

Eventually, Jack Swagger and Rey Mysterio fought their way near the water. Swagger was about to throw Rey into it but Rey countered and Jack Swagger flew in. Swagger screamed for help because he couldn't swim. Rey Mysterio should be arrested. If Swagger drowned, Rey would be responsible, no? And you wonder why Undertaker got put in a vegetative state...

But as Rey Mysterio walked away while Swagger continued to drown, Kane shows up off camera. (He probably standing there the entire time!) Kane then chokeslammed Rey into the water as Rey screamed, "Noooooooooo!" hehe

Final Result: No Contest.

So yeah, really fun Smackdown. They taped this Friday's Smackdown already last Wednesday. That has to suck, going to a Wednesday taping and not knowing what the hell happened during the Tuesday taping (unless they read the spoilers).

As for tonight, we'll get a taped version of RAW since they taped it last week in San Antonio. I already know what will happen but I'll probably watch it anyway. We'll see.

Has anyone else added the Hulk Hogan fan page at Hulk Hogan | Facebook Go to it, click "Like", then go to the Hulk Up tab. You can add Hogan bandannas, sunglasses, mustaches, hair, trunks, and title belts to pictures of people. I made one of myself and did some for a few friends.

On to actual wrestling stuff: I cannot recommend that PWG 7th anniversary show enough. The DVD will be out in a couple months. I don't tend to use star ratings often, but I will here. Not one match was below *** (Sabin match; some would rate it more highly) and the Davey Richards vs. Chris Hero world title match and Young Bucks vs. Cutler Brothers vs. London & Generico in the Guerrilla Warfare match were both at least ****1/2. Both those title matches were match of the year candidates.

There was stuff like the Cutlers doing a double tombstone onto a chair, countless crazy dives into the crowd, and the Young Bucks doing their handspring back rake (yeah, really) and using an actual metal rake (yeah, really!) to execute it. Then there were the many stiff shots in the world title match, and stuff like Roderick Strong choking Danielson with a tie (fans chant: "You are fired!") followed by Danielson doing it (fans: "You are hired!) and a "**** Michael Cole!" chant.

Here's a decent recap, if you ignore some of the smarmy comments the guy made: Declaration of Independents • View topic - PWG SEVEN Live Review

I have the pictures up on my Facebook if you're my friend on there (if anyone who doesn't have me on their list wants to add me, which I doubt, PM me) or you can see them at this link: pwgseven pictures by redjed2 - Photobucket
But if I am your Facebook friend, check 'em out there and leave a comment!

I'm just worried about the injury that kept Alex Shelley off the show, since I can't find much info on it.

Somewhat related question, since some ROH guys were on the PWG show: Does anyone else here watch ROH on HDNet? I don't know how many providers carry HDNet besides DirecTV. The show is usually 55 minutes with one or two very brief commercials and almost all wrestling.

The thing is, though, you only get a taste of what the real ROH experience is like. Their 2 shows on WrestleMania weekend in Phoenix were fantastic and better than WrestleMania on the whole. They just announced that at Glory By Honor IX (internet PPV) on September 11th, Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin are coming to ROH to challenge tag team champions "The Kings of Wrestling" Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli.

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure Claudio's purple KOW shirt infringes on some sort of copyright relating to the logo of everyone's favorite NHL team. I couldn't find a better pic than this first one, and the second one is the red version he sells on his site. Links for both, since I'm writing enough words and don't need huge pictures taking up more space:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7545037_n.jpg

ClaudioCastagnoli.com: Shop

Not sure if anyone else here watches TNA, but it was announced that August 12th on Impact, the matches "originally slated for Hard Justice" will take place on free TV:

Spike TV Announces Free Pay-Per-View Lineup | TNAStars.com

Matches showcased on Aug. 12 include:
TNA champ Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss.

Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle vs. The Phenomenal AJ Styles.

TNA Knockouts champ Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love.

TNA tag champs Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) vs. Beer Money (Robert Roode and Tennessee Cowboy James Storm).

The Pope D’Angelo Dinero vs. The Blueprint Matt Morgan vs. Mr. Anderson.

Ink Inc. (Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal) vs. Generation Me (Jeremy and Max Buck).

The Charismatic Enigma Jeff Hardy’s open challenge.

And now, on to Raw:

Edge vs. Barrett worked to further Edge's current storyline as well as that of The Nexus, but it still made Barrett look like a pussy, even if he was being beaten by a 9 time world champion. But I guess that's part of the point. I found it funny how, after the match, Edge apparently couldn't see Cena standing right down the hallway in his bright orange shirt and had to ask everyone where Cena was.

I don't hate Eve, but seeing Gail Kim and Natalya come out to Eve's music and play supporting roles while Eve has just come off a title run made me sad. The match sucked, but I was happy to see Melina back. But man... Alicia Fox's scissor kick is as ugly as she is beautiful.

I was really surprised that Sheamus's history with Goldust was mentioned. Of course, they omitted the fact that Goldust was the first man to pin Sheamus (only Triple H and Evan Bourne have done it otherwise, if I recall correctly, and Bourne's pinfall was in a tag match) but that makes sense, and the whole thing showed how much he's improved in kayfabe.

The Cena vs. Jericho match was good, as I expected, and the finish was... different. Edge and Jericho making up so quickly was stupid, but I can't complain much about probably my 2 favorite wrestlers on Raw working together. I expect to see them back in the 7 on 7 match, but maybe they're just going to replace them with 2 babyfaces. My guesses would be Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. Edge and Jericho could challenge the The Hart Dynasty (absent from this show) for the tag titles, but I'd rather see Edge and Jericho as singles.

The match next week... I don't know. I love Bret Hart, but he can't wrestle anymore. Although it was a ****ty match, I felt that Bret beating Vince McMahon at WM XXVI would have been a perfect ending to his career. Then he had his last match in Canada and won the US title. Okay, then. Granted, he won't have to do much in a tag match (and even less at the PPV) but I hope he's done after SummerSlam, both for reasons I mentioned already as well as the fact that I would once again be able to say I saw his last match in person.

So does anyone actually read through all this? I put this line down here to see if anyone would notice it. I always read every word of every post in the wrestling thread.

Does anyone else find it amusing that Michael Cole, when reading e-mails from the GM on his laptop, actually, noticeably, reads from note cards?

Ted DiBiase got his ass whooped. I know they're trying to make Khali look good, but it shouldn't come at the expense of a guy like DiBiase. I know Ted's got a lot of room to improve, but they keep going hot/cold with his push and that doesn't help matters whatsoever.

Orton vs. Miz was a good 10 minute match. Not much else to say about that one, really. It went about how I expected it to go.
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I'm not sure what's up with SummerSlam. As a ticket holder, I'm worried that they only have 3 matches announced so far (haven't read spoilers for Friday) and one features a guy who's selling (kind of) a serious ankle injury, and the elimination match no longer has the full lineup set.

I'm guessing we'll see Kofi vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship. I did expect Miz vs. Bourne for the US Championship, but they haven't gone further with that and Bourne may end up in the main event by my hypothesis from earlier.

The Hart Dynasty wasn't even on Raw, but I could see them defending against Jericho & Edge if those 2 aren't put back on Team WWE, or I guess against the Usos or Santino & Kozlov? Some combination of Christian/Matt Hardy/Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes would make sense. If Punk's healed, Punk vs. Big Show would be an obvious choice. But where would that all leave Swagger?

It's anyone's guess at this point, but it would be criminal to see my 3 favorite WWE wrestlers- the 3 best heels in the company- Edge, Jericho, and Punk, left off the show. Oh, and Miz, too, as far as top heels (plus he's the MITB holder and US Champion). Swagger's been pretty involved in the main event scene on Smackdown, too.

Well, I think that's all. This may be the longest post I have ever written on here. I hope it was worth reading, if anyone does/did read it.

Stop making Cena movies.

Originally Posted by Dexter

Stop making Cena movies.

I liked The Marine. 12 Rounds, not so much. This new one looks really terrible. I'm surprised it's going to theaters, even in a limited release.

You know, I have both Damage and The Stranger on my Netflix queue. Those are both recent Stone Cold Steve Austin movies. I should check those out, even though they probably suck, too.

I've liked most of The Rock's movies, but Tooth Fairy sucked. It had The Rock and the Kings... but it still sucked! Hulk Hogan's movies are awesome, though.

Randy Orton has become one of the greatest anti-heroes I have ever seen last time I've seen someone that good was Stone Cold.

Originally Posted by Matt Young

So does anyone actually read through all this?

Yes.

Thanks. I know I'm overly wordy in just about everything I write, and I do enjoy writing out my thoughts, but it'd be kind of pointless if people weren't reading or if my posts were boring/annoying in their nature. Then again, you didn't say they weren't; you just said you read them, heh.

Late NXT thoughts (I just watched it today):

With 411mania's non-spoiler match listing only mentioning the first 2 matches, and the guide description mentioning the kissing contest, I figured the show would be horrible. It wasn't.

The kissing contest concept was really stupid and it went on too long, but there were some redeeming qualities to it. LayCool was brilliant as always. They have to be the most entertaining divas on the mic that I can remember, especially Layla.

I have no idea what was up with McGillicutty licking the fat chick's face. That was pretty gross. Percy Watson's "I just saw/smelled something nasty" face he makes when he's not smiling was perfectly fitting here. Kaval is a lucky sumbitch for getting to kiss the gorgeous miss Layla El. Alex Riley was hilarious with his reaction to the kiss, the back bump afterwards, and his reaction following that. Speaking of Riley, the "Last, but not Least"/"Well, kind of least" comments from LayCool made me laugh a little.

Lucky Cannon is a guy I still really dislike. Titus O'Neal and Eli Cottonwood were definitely worse and deserved to be eliminated, but Lucky should be the next to go. The other 5 have what it takes to make it on Raw or Smackdown, in my opinion.

Kaval's leap onto Husky's shoulders, standing on them for a second, followed by the dropkick was pretty nifty. I'm glad they're giving Husky Harris wins, because he needs to get some of that fan vote. Kaval is not going to be eliminated anytime soon.

The McGillicutter name for Joe Hennig's finisher, I like. "McGillibuddies", not so much. Kofi's comments about Kaval being the closest thing to a ninja that he's seen, and LayCool forcing him to wear a pink Snuggie, were amusing.

Alex Riley vs. Percy Watson was short like all the other matches, but the right guy won, just like in the other matches. Those 2 have the best personalities of anyone on NXT for sure. It's scary how much Riley resembles The Miz in his character and his facial features. Plus he's bigger and has a better body, so I really think he could go places.

I was kind of disappointed to see McGillicutty's undefeated streak end, but of course there's no way an NXT rookie should beat the US Champion/MITB briefcase holder. I wish the match had gone longer than 4 minutes, but McG looked good in it and lost due to a "rookie mistake". And he had already wrestled one match, even if it was a 2 minute beating of Lucky Cannon.

Overall, it was a much better show than I was expecting, but I was expecting it to be atrocious, so... ya know.

Looking forward to Superstars and Impact, although as usual, I'll probably watch them the following day via DVR. I'm really interested in seeing Evan Bourne vs. Zack Ryder on Superstars, even though it probably means another Ryder loss. But hey, they've surprised me lately with guys like Chavo and Primo winning matches, so who knows?

A friend of mine is hoping to come up here from San Diego this weekend and, if he does, he wants to order the TNA PPV. I'm really interested in seeing it, and he suggested ordering it and offered to pay, so hopefully that will work out. The card's supposed to be a surprise for the most part, with names announced but only a few matches. All they've announced so far in the way of matches is [spoiler]RVD vs. Jerry Lynn and Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven with Foley as the guest ref.[/spoiler] That's not really a spoiler since they've announced those matches online, but I figured I'd add the tags anyway.