List of Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards
Rookie of the Year
The PWI Rookie of the Year award recognizes the best professional wrestler of the year who, in that year, had their first year in the business.

List of Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards

Section Title: Rookie of the Year
Table Section Text: The PWI Rookie of the Year award recognizes the best professional wrestler of the year who, in that year, had their first year in the business.

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Second runner-up	Third runner-up

1972	Mike Graham	N/A	N/A	N/A

1973	Bob Orton Jr. / Tony Garea	N/A	N/A	N/A

1974	Larry Zbyszko	N/A	N/A	N/A

1975	Ric Flair	N/A	N/A	N/A

1976	Bob Backlund	Chavo Guerrero	Steve Keirn	Johnny Rivera

1977	Ricky Steamboat	Jimmy Snuka	Big John Studd	Skip Young

1978	Tommy Rich	Jay Youngblood	David Von Erich	Tully Blanchard

1979	Sweet Brown Sugar	Steve Travis	Bryan St. John	Eddie Gilbert

1980	Terry Taylor	Barry Windham	Rick McGraw	Tom Prichard

1981	David Sammartino	Brad Rheingans	Curt Hennig	Ron Richie

1982	Brad Armstrong	Tiger Mask	Mike Rotunda	Kamala

1983	Angelo Mosca, Jr.	King Kong Bundy	Scott Armstrong	Arn Anderson

1984	Mike Von Erich	Nikita Koloff	Krusher Khruschev	Kevin Kelly

1985	Nord the Barbarian	Kendall Windham	Dan Spivey	Sam Houston

1986	Lex Luger	Bam Bam Bigelow	Sting	Tom Magee

1987	Owen Hart	Big Bubba Rogers	Shane Douglas	Doug Furnas

1988	Madusa Miceli	Chris Benoit	Maxx Payne	Scott Steiner

1989	The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom)	Dustin Rhodes	Scotty the Body	Johnathan Holliday

1990	Steve Austin	El Gigante	Brad Anderson	Chris Chavis

1991	Johnny B. Badd	The Patriot	Terri Power	The Lightning Kid

1992	Erik Watts	Diamond Dallas Page	Vladimir Koloff	Chaz Taylor

1993	Vampire Warrior	Robbie Eagle	Kent and Keith Cole	The Headhunters

1994	911	Bob Holly	Abbudah Singh	Mikey Whipwreck

1995	Alex Wright	Craig Pittman	Lawrence Taylor	Madd Maxxine

1996	The Giant	Steve McMichael	Rocky Maivia	Joe Gomez

1997	Prince Iaukea	Ernest Miller	Chris Chetti	Brakkus

1998	Bill Goldberg	Sable	Droz	Mark Henry

1999	Shane McMahon	Evan Karagias	Vince McMahon	Lash LeRoux

2000	Kurt Angle	Lita	Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire	Chuck Palumbo

2001	Randy Orton	Brock Lesnar	K-Kwik	The Prototype

2002	Maven	Christopher Nowinski	Nidia	Taylor Matheny

2003	Zach Gowen	Sylvain Grenier	Trinity	Matt Morgan

2004	Monty Brown	Petey Williams	Johnny Nitro	Matt Cappotelli

2005	Bobby Lashley	Christy Hemme	Mikey Batts	Ken Doane

2006	The Boogeyman	Charles Evans	Akebono	Cody Runnels

2007	Hornswoggle	Ted DiBiase Jr.	Pelle Primeau	Mike DiBiase

2008	Joe Hennig	Brett DiBiase	Ricky Steamboat, Jr.	Ryan McBride

2009	Mike Sydal	Jesse Neal	Brittney Savage	J.T. Flash

2010	David Otunga	Tamina	Percy Watson	Corey Hollis

2011	Ace Hawkins	Nick Madrid	Leakee	Briley Pierce

2012	Veda Scott	The Big O	Jason Jordan	Bambi Hall

2013	Tim Zbyszko	Cody Hall	Lucipher Lords	Matt King

2014	Charlotte	Enzo Amore	Mojo Rawley	Chad Gable

2015	Moose	Tessa Blanchard	Braun Strowman	Dana Brooke

2016	Nia Jax	Lio Rush	Matt Riddle	Shayna Baszler

2017	Otis Dozovic	Ray González Jr.	Andy Williams	Hirai Kawato

2018	Ronda Rousey	Tomoyuki Oka	Kacy Catanzaro	Taynara Conti

Sentence(s)

Poling received the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year award in 1994.

final_sentence: Poling received the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year award in 1994.