Posted with permission from http://s6.invisionfree.com/Wrestling_Matters/. Stinger: Ladies and gentlemen, my first guest this week is a columnist some of you may not be familiar with, but you should be. It is my humble opinion that her biographical columns are the absolute best on the net today. No one does a history column quite as good. She is known around these parts as "Starling313", so please give a warm welcome to Kirsty Quested. Welcome to the rafters, Mrs. Quested. Kirsty: Thanks Gary, nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

Stinger: Well it is certainly my pleasure. Now since some readers here may not be familiar with you, tell us a little about yourself. You know, where you live and what you do.

Kirsty: I'm waaaay over on the other side of the pond in New Zealand. If anyone asks if that's part of Australia, I'll have to come beat on you a bit I'm an IT consultant and my passion is horse riding.

Stinger: Horse riding? I've done that a few times myself, but only because Danielle wanted to. So now that you have been properly introduced, why don't you tell us how you discovered LoP, as I know this is an interesting story.

Kirsty: I had written a column on Bret Hart for Online World of Wrestling. A few weeks after it went up, I started getting emails from people at LOP saying it was up on their forums, at least part of it. Someone over there had plagiarized it and was posting it as a 4 part series. Morpheus, bless his heart, gave me the heads up. I went over to LOP to see for myself. After it had all blown over I started reading some of the columns at LOP. Impressed doesn't begin to describe some of the talent you have there.

Stinger: Well, I'm sure all the columnist here appreciate that, as all take pride in their column. For those who do not know, it was a young kid called The Mask who stole the column. He has since apologized to Kirsty. But, in all honesty, I must thank The Mask, as I discovered your writing because of what he did, and I've been a fan ever since.

Kirsty: Actually it all turned out for the best. He'd only gotten to Part 2 before he was discovered, so people wanted to read the rest and they headed on over to OWW. I got a lot more readers.

Stinger: Well see, bad deal worked out well for you, and not so well for Mask. I remember that day very well though. I was at OWW looking for pictures to make my graphics with, when I saw your Owen Hart column, which was also a great read. I then saw the Bret column, pointed it out to The Monkey, we showed it to Morpheus, and next thing that happens, several of us were reporting it to the moderators, who handled it all very fast. That Bret column was a masterpiece, and I, along with some others, gave you credit for it in our columns.

Kirsty: I know. I got that many emails from people at LOP, most of them columnists and all of them apologizing for the incident. To say I was blown away by the support I got from complete strangers would be an understatement. You gave me a shout out in your column and I really appreciated it. The speed with which it was handled was also amazing. You guys rock!

Stinger: I know a lot of us columnist did apologize to you, because some of us like myself, Morpheus, adeaton, and several others considered Mask a good columnist and a good kid. So it was a major disappointment to us when he did what he did, and for that we felt it necessary to apologize on his behalf, as well as give proper feedback to you for a job well done. I know I praised the Mask for the column, which he did not deserve. And plagiarizing doesn't fly on LoP, we hate that kind of shit, as it is disrespectful to all of us.

Kirsty: Nor should it. But it's water under the bridge now and as I said before, it turned out for the best. I would not have discovered LOP otherwise and I hope that it doesn't discourage Mask from continuing to write. If he's got a talent then he should use it. I hope he's learned a valuable lesson, and leave it at that. He apologized, that took some stones.

Stinger: I applaud The Mask for that, and would also hope he continues to write. Now speaking of writing, how many wrestling columns have you written, and how long have you been writing in general?

Kirsty: I've written three wrestling columns. Bret Hart, Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels. They're all at OWW. I've been writing since I was very young. When I was 16 I turned in a wrestling paper for school and got an A (Either that or the teacher was a fan). In general I've written all kinds of stuff for a long time. Academic, creative and personal. I'm a member of the NZ Writers Guild and right now I'm working on a screenplay. A fourth wrestling column is in the works. Readers get to vote on a short list which is up over at OWW, and whoever gets the most votes, that's the subject of my next column.

Stinger: Oh, a screenplay? We will most certainly have to talk about that sometime, as screenwriting is another of my passions and what I want to do. I'm also working on one now myself. Yes, so all of you reading this, go over to OWW and view the list, then email her and vote.

Kirsty: It's a first for me. I'm kind of learning as I go but the Guild have been very supportive, with a lot of great resources and I'm getting some valuable technical advice from a documentary maker.

Stinger: Well that is very good, and I wish you the very best in that field. I know I personally cannot think of a better style of writing, than screenwriting.

Kirsty: It's fun so far. You don't get to be as creative or as long winded as you can be with straight prose but part of the challenge is getting down emotion and direction in as succinct sentences as possible.

Stinger: Well, what do you think of coming back on this show again sometime soon, and informing us of how the script is coming along, and possibly give us some details. I'll also share how mine is coming along, and what it is about. But I know what you mean, it's hard, but very fun.

Kirsty: Actually if this flies it'll be of interest to your readers since it's a movie about wrestling. I don't want to go into too many details right now but if it continues to head in the right direction I'd love to come back and talk more about it. And I'd be really keen to hear about yours. and no - it's not some crappy No Holds Barred Hulk Hogan cheese-fest.

Stinger: Ha, I remember that movie, shame I'll never get that time back from watching it. But yeah, I know I would and the readers would love to hear more about it, especially since it is about wrestling, which mine isn't.

Kirsty: Ah yes, the late great kayfabe era. Made a mark out of me.

Stinger: Made it made a mark out of me too. But before we have to go to break, tell us a little about your latest column.

Kirsty: Latest being the one in the works, or the HBK one?

Stinger: That would be the HBK one, which is a fantastic read.

Kirsty: I wrote a piece on Shawn for three reasons. One - he popped up a lot in my research on Bret, as you can imagine. So I already had some research on him. Two, I got a lot of requests to show the other side of HBK, not just his role in Montreal. And three, say what you want about him but he's an incredible performer. I got hold of the Vault DVD's as well as some other tapes that featured him heavily. and an RF Shoot interview. I couldn't help but be really impressed.

Stinger: Well personally, Shawn Michaels is my all-time favorite, so I was extremely glad to see you do a piece on him. That From the Vault DVD is one of my all time favorites.

Kirsty: The webmaster at OWW illustrated it, as he has all my articles, must just say a big thank you to Brad for that.

Stinger: Certainly, I dig the pictures in the column, makes them even better than they already are. Now just because pretty much everyone here knows how I feel about it, and since you've written a column on both men, what do you think when I say, "Bret screwed Bret"?

Kirsty: I think Vince didn't know Bret was wired in Montreal when he gave that interview. no, seriously. What do I think? I think it's absolute bollocks. I think that Bret gave Vince McMahon 14 years of loyal service and was kicked in the face. Bret never wanted to leave the WWF. Vince forced him out then humiliated him with the Screw job, a situation that was completely and utterly avoidable. Vince did NOT need to do what he did. Anyone who has seen Wrestling With Shadows knows that Bret tried his best to compromise with Vince. What was wrong with Bret forfeiting his title on RAW the next night and leaving with dignity, as well as a goodbye speech that would have tied up the loose ends and explained things to his fans? What did Vince have to lose by allowing that to happen? Nothing. I feel sorry for Shawn though. I think he was placed in an untenable position where he had no choice but to be the bad guy. I think Vince should be ashamed of that too. Ashamed of the impact the screw job had on Shawn as well as Bret. I think Vince McMahon is a pariah.

Stinger: I have seen Wrestling With Shadows, and it is a great documentary, one of my favorites. I see where you're coming from, and you are correct, it could have and should have been handled better. However, I also believe that Bret should have just went along with cleanly losing, as it would've looked much better for him, and would've looked better for Michaels; rather than not losing it, and then coming out and giving the title up. I think Bret is just as much at fault as Vince is.

Kirsty: Bret could have and would have dropped the belt anywhere outside of Canada. Why there? Why the Survivor Series at Montreal? Why couldn't he drop it to Shawn another time, another place? He still had 4 weeks to go. He told Vince he would drop it anywhere but in Canada, so why did Vince decide, completely arbitrarily, that he HAD to lose in Canada? I mean of all places!

Stinger: That is the part about it that always gets me. Wrestlers lose titles or fail to win them in their hometowns, so I don't think anything should have to do with Canada. I could maybe see having a problem with dropping the title in Calgary, but not wanting to drop it in any part of Canada is absurd.

Kirsty: If he hadn't been on his way out to the WCW - Vince's decision - he probably would have been fine with it. But he was in this horrible limbo state. I think his request was a modest one, and when you consider that in 14 years he had never, ever refused to put anyone over, never said no to Vince before, the honourable thing for Vince to do would be to grant this last request as a thank you for every thing the Hitman gave to his company. Not only did he not grant it, but he screwed one of his hardest working, loyal employees in the most vicious way he could think of. And I bet you - I'd bet my horse on it - that if Vince had his time over again, he would not have done it. Knowing what he knows now. it benefited no-one and hurt everyone. Including him.

Stinger: Heh, well I really cannot argue with you their, especially when Bret never wanted to leave. But I still think Bret should have just lost cleanly, and went out the bigger man.

Kirsty: Well we might have to agree to disagree. I've argued Bret's case for a long time now. There will always be other points of view and that's fine.

Stinger: And I think he would, as they credit the creation of the Mr. McMahon character and Attitude Era with the screw job, so I think he would do it again.

Kirsty: I guess we'll never know.

Stinger: Guess not. But I would like to see Bret come back on more time, and I think he will. The Canadian fans really need to drop it though.

Kirsty: Hah, I had this very argument with Morpheus yesterday. I'll say to you what I said to him; Bret's a Canadian hero. He was voted 39th in their top 50 Greatest Canadians of all time. Not just in wrestling - of ALL TIME. You don't treat a national hero like that and get away with it. The Canadian fans have earned the right to hold a grudge.

Stinger: Yes indeed. Well we have to take a break now, but would love for you to come back on sometime soon. Thank you for joining me here and doing this.

Kirsty: Thanks so much for having me, and I'd be delighted to come back at any time. I enjoyed it a lot, and also thank you to everyone who's emailed me with feedback on my columns. Keep watching for the next one Get over there and vote.

Please visit http://s6.invisionfree.com/Wrestling_Matters/