Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979. PWI is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The magazine is the longest currently published English language wrestling magazine. The PWI publishes monthly issues and annual special issues such as their "Almanac and Book of Facts". The magazine recognizes various world championships as legitimate, similar to The Ring in boxing.
PWI is often referred to as an "Apter Mag", named after its long time photographer Bill Apter, a term used for wrestling magazines that keep kayfabe. In recent years, the PWI has moved away from reporting on storylines as actual news and mixed in editorial comments on the behind the scenes workings.
Each year since 1991, PWI publishes every year their "Top 500 Wrestlers" in the world list. Since 2008, they also publish a "Top 50 Female wrestlers" list which changed to "Top 100 Female Wrestlers" since 2018.
==History==
Pro Wrestling Illustrated was started in 1979. The magazine is known for not breaking kayfabe. Some magazines will break kayfabe and tell the behind-the-scenes reality of pro wrestling; PWI has never done that, traditionally treating all "storyline" events as real. However, in more recent years, the magazine has taken an editorial approach halfway between kayfabe and "shoot" writing, for the first time using terms such as "storyline" and differentiating between "onscreen" feuds and real-life controversies.
PWI also does not follow only the "big" promotions, as they also cover some independent promotions. The magazine features stories about wrestlers and wrestling groups/teams. PWI also has monthly rankings for the big promotions, some select independents, and an overall rankings in singles and tag teams.
PWI declared it would recognize three World Titles when it started publication: NWA, AWA and WWF. When Jim Crockett Promotions, which controlled the NWA Title, became WCW in 1991, WCW earned World Title Status, and the NWA's world title status was dropped. ECW finally earned World Title recognition status in 1999, not long before ECW itself went out of business. The NWA title was restored to a World Title in July 2006 based on TNA's success. They also granted World Title status to two of WWE's World titles, referred as the "RAW World Championship" and the "SmackDown! World Championship". Despite the fact that ECW has been revived as a WWE brand, PWI has yet to recognize the world title status of the resurrected "ECW Championship".
Bill Apter, who can be seen at most high-profile wrestling events taking photos, was the senior editor of PWI for years. Stuart M. Saks is the current longtime publisher for PWI. Hunter S. Thompson-influenced Matt Brock has been PWI's most popular columnist. Brock, however, is actually a fictitious writer. Through the years, many different PWI editors have written stories as Brock. Likewise, columnist Liz Hunter is fictitious, as are oft-quoted WWF/WWE "inside source" Thomas Pilliard and "wrestling psychologist" Dr. Sidney M. Basil.
While PWI writers do conduct certain legitimate interviews with figures within the wrestling business, the majority of "in-character" quotes are penned by the magazine's staff. The rule of thumb: If a quotation is about real-life events (i.e., the people behind the characters), it was uttered by the quoted source. If the quote pertains to any angle or someone's in-ring persona, the response is typically "invented" by the feature's writer.
PWI is now headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing.
PWI's biggest competition is no longer from other wrestling magazines, but from the Internet. Results are reported faster online than the magazine can report, but PWI still has enough sales to stay alive.
==PWI Awards==
PWI's family of magazines has given out annual awards since 1972. Unlike the PWI 500 which is voted on by the PWI Staff, the fans ostensibly vote for the winners of the year-end awards. A ballot is printed in the special year-end issue.
A special PWI Awards magazine is put out annually, which shows not only the winners, but the first three runners-up with the number of votes. The wrestlers receive plaques for each PWI Award that they win.
The awards that PWI has given out are as follows:
*Wrestler of the Year (since 1972)
*Tag Team of the Year (since 1972)
*Match of the Year (since 1972)
*Feud of the Year (since 1986)
*Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (since 1972)
*Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (since 1972)
*Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (since 1978)
*Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (since 1972)
*Rookie of the Year (since 1972)
*Stanley Weston Award (since 1981)
*Comeback of the Year (since 1992)
*Woman of the Year (since 1999)
Discontinued awards are as follows:
*Manager of the Year (1972 to 1999)
*Girl Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976)
*Midget Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976)
*Announcer of the Year (1977)
The "PWI Awards" issue also serves as a "year-in-review" issue, with a listing of the top events, matches, angles, feuds and other news (both kayfabe and legit) of the preceding year, usually from January to the publishing deadline for the year-end issue (typically, early December). A listing of wrestlers who had passed away during the past year is also included, as well as a list of top superstars who had announced (legit) retirements. In addition to the voted awards in the established categories, readers are also invited to create their own "categories" and award them to a wrestler or other individual fitting that category, and make their predictions as to what they think will happen (or would like to see happen) during the upcoming year.
Starting in 1981, the "PWI Editor's Award," a legit award given to a wrestler, personality, promoter or other individual connected with the business for lifetime achievements in the industry, was created. The first recipient was Bruno Sammartino, who had announced his (first) retirement that year; later honorees were typically longtime wrestlers who had recently retired or top superstars who had passed away during the past year. The award was renamed in memory of PWI founder and longtime publisher Stanley Weston in 2003.
==Special PWI Editions==
Besides the special year-end edition and the special PWI Awards Edition, PWI also publishes other special issues. They have published the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts since 1996. It includes all of the PWI 500 rankings over the years, title histories, PPV histories, wrestler stats, top stories of the year, PWI Award Winners and a What's In/What's Out list.
PWI also publishes a Women of Wrestling magazine that has short bios of the divas of pro wrestling and includes lots of pictures.
From 1989 through 2000, PWI published a weekly newsletter entitled PWI Weekly. It had results from the previous week that included all wrestling shows, title changes, injury updates, wrestlers leaving/entering promotions, and obituaries. It was cancelled due to monetary and time constraints on the part of its writers.
== PWI 500 ==
PWI has published the list of the top 500 professional wrestlers each year since 1991 in an annual special edition magazine, the PWI 500. PWI writers choose the position of the wrestler following a designated evaluation period starting from mid-June; anything a wrestler accomplished before or after that period is not considered. They follow a criterion that includes win-loss record, championships won, quality of competition, major feuds, prominence within a wrestler's individual promotion(s) and overall wrestling ability. As of 2018, only Jushin Thunder Liger has appeared in every edition of the PWI 500. In 1993, Miss Texas (Jacqueline Moore) was the first woman to be ranked in the list at No. 249. Since 2008 men and women have their separate lists.
Year	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10
1991	Hulk Hogan
WWE	Lex Luger
WCW	Ric Flair
WCW/WWE	Randy Savage
WWE	Sting
WCW 	Scott Steiner
WCW	Ricky Steamboat
WCW	Steve Williams
AJPW	Arn Anderson
WCW	Rick Steiner
WCW
1992	Sting
WCW 	Randy Savage
WWE	Ric Flair
WCW/WWE	Rick Rude
WWE/WCW	Bret Hart
WWE	Ricky Steamboat
WCW	Jerry Lawler
USWA	Scott Steiner
WCW	The Ultimate Warrior
WWE	Stunning Steve Austin
WCW
1993	Bret Hart
WWE	Big Van Vader
WCW	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Sting
WCW 	Yokozuna
WWE	Ric Flair
WCW	Lex Luger
WWE	Rick Rude
WCW	Mr. Perfect
WWE	Scott Steiner
WCW
1994	Bret Hart
WWE	Hulk Hogan
WWE	Ric Flair
WCW	Big Van Vader
WCW	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Stunning Steve Austin
WCW	Razor Ramon
WWE	Sting
WCW 	Ricky Steamboat
WCW	Owen Hart
WWE
1995	Diesel
WWE 	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Sting
WCW 	Bret Hart
WWE	Sabu
ECW 	Hulk Hogan
WCW	Big Van Vader
WCW	Randy Savage
WCW	Razor Ramon
WWE	Mitsuharu Misawa
AJPW
1996	Shawn Michaels
WWE	The Giant
WCW	Sting
WCW 	Kenta Kobashi
AJPW	Ahmed Johnson
WWE	Kevin Nash
WWE	Rey Misterio, Jr.
WCW	Hulk Hogan
WCW	Sabu
ECW 	Ric Flair
WCW
1997	Dean Malenko
WCW	Mitsuharu Misawa
AJPW	Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE	Diamond Dallas Page
WCW	Lex Luger
WCW	The Undertaker
WWE	Shinya Hashimoto
NJPW	The Giant
WCW	Jushin Thunder Liger
WCW	Chris Benoit
WCW
1998	Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE	Goldberg
WCW	Mitsuharu Misawa
AJPW	Diamond Dallas Page
WCW	The Undertaker
WWE	Kenta Kobashi
AJPW	Booker T
WCW	Ken Shamrock
WWE	Jushin Thunder Liger
WCW	Chris Jericho
WCW
1999	Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE	Rob Van Dam
WWE	Mitsuharu Misawa
AJPW	Rey Misterio, Jr.
WCW	The Rock
WWE	Diamond Dallas Page
WCW	Keiji Mutoh
AJPW	The Undertaker
WWE	Goldberg
WCW	Taz
ECW
2000	Triple H
WWE	The Rock
WWE/WCW	Chris Benoit
WCW/WWE	Kenta Kobashi
AJPW	Jeff Jarrett
WCW/NWA	Justin Credible
ECW	Mike Awesome
ECW	Jushin Thunder Liger
WCW	Chris Jericho
WCW/WWE	Kensuke Sasaki
AJPW
2001	Kurt Angle
WWE/WCW/ECW	Stone Cold Steve Austin
WCW/WWE	Chris Benoit
WCW/WWE	Keiji Mutoh
NJPW	Booker T
WCW/WWE	Triple H
WWE	Scott Steiner
WCW	Mitsuharu Misawa
AJPW	Chris Jericho
WCW/WWE	Rhyno
ECW/WCW
2002	Rob Van Dam
WWE	The Undertaker
WWE	Keiji Mutoh
NJPW	Chris Jericho
WWE	Eddie Guerrero
WWE	Kurt Angle
WWE/WCW	Edge
WWE 	Yuji Nagata
AJPW	The Rock
WWE/WCW	Triple H
WWE
2003	Brock Lesnar
WWE	Triple H
WWE	Kurt Angle
WWE	Keiji Mutoh
NJPW	Chris Jericho
WWE	Big Show
WWE	Booker T
WWE	Kenta Kobashi
AJPW	Eddie Guerrero
WWE	Rob Van Dam
WWE
2004	Chris Benoit
WWE	Eddie Guerrero
WWE	Triple H
WWE 	Kenta Kobashi
AJPW	Randy Orton
WWE	Toshiaki Kawada
NJPW	John Cena
WWE	A.J. Styles
NWA	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Chris Jericho
WWE
2005	Batista
WWE	John Cena
WWE	Satoshi Kojima
AJPW	Triple H
WWE 	John Bradshaw Layfield
WWE	Kurt Angle
WWE	A.J. Styles
TNA	Edge
WWE 	Shelton Benjamin
WWE	Hiroyoshi Tenzan
AJPW
2006	John Cena
WWE	Kurt Angle
TNA	Edge
WWE 	Samoa Joe
TNA/ROH	Místico
Lucha Libre	Rey Mysterio
WWE	Brock Lesnar
NJPW	Kenta Kobashi
AJPW	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Jeff Jarrett
TNA/NWA
2007	John Cena
WWE	Edge
WWE 	Místico
Lucha Libre	Kurt Angle
TNA	The Undertaker
WWE	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Christian Cage
TNA/NWA	Perro Aguayo, Jr.
Lucha Libre	Bobby Lashley
WWE	Takeshi Morishima
NJPW
2008	Randy Orton
WWE	Kurt Angle
TNA	Triple H
WWE 	Samoa Joe
TNA	Edge
WWE 	The Undertaker
WWE	Shawn Michaels
WWE	Nigel McGuinness
ROH	John Cena
WWE	Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW
2009	Triple H
WWE	Chris Jericho
WWE	John Cena
WWE	Edge
WWE 	Randy Orton
WWE	Nigel McGuinness
ROH	Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW	CM Punk
WWE 	Sting
TNA 	Último Guerrero
Lucha Libre
2010	A.J. Styles
TNA	John Cena
WWE	CM Punk
WWE 	Randy Orton
WWE	Chris Jericho
WWE	Batista
WWE 	Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW	The Undertaker
WWE	Kurt Angle
Impact	Sheamus
WWE
2011	The Miz
WWE	Randy Orton
WWE	John Cena
WWE	Kane
WWE 	Takashi Sugiura
NJPW	Alberto Del Rio
WWE	Mr. Anderson
Impact	Rey Mysterio
WWE	Eddie Edwards
ROH	CM Punk
WWE
2012	CM Punk
WWE	Bobby Roode
TNA	John Cena
WWE	Daniel Bryan
WWE	Sheamus
WWE	Jun Akiyama
AJPW	Davey Richards
PWG	Kurt Angle
Impact	Mark Henry
WWE	Alberto Del Rio
WWE
2013	John Cena
WWE	CM Punk
WWE 	Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW	Bully Ray
TNA	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	Sheamus
WWE 	Jeff Hardy
Impact	Alberto Del Rio
WWE	Dolph Ziggler
WWE	Kevin Steen
PWG/ROH
2014	Daniel Bryan
WWE	Randy Orton
WWE	John Cena
WWE	A.J. Styles
TNA/NJPW/ROH	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	Bray Wyatt
WWE	Roman Reigns
WWE	Magnus
Impact	Adam Cole
ROH/PWG	Bully Ray
Impact
2015	Seth Rollins
WWE	John Cena
WWE	A.J. Styles
NJPW	Roman Reigns
WWE	Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW	Randy Orton
WWE	Jay Briscoe
ROH	Rusev
WWE 	Alberto El Patrón
Impact	Kevin Owens
WWE
2016	Roman Reigns
WWE	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	Finn Bálor
WWE	A.J. Styles
NJPW/WWE	Jay Lethal
ROH	Kevin Owens
WWE	Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE	Seth Rollins
WWE	Dean Ambrose
WWE	John Cena
WWE
2017	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	A.J. Styles
WWE	Kevin Owens
WWE	Roman Reigns
WWE	Kenny Omega
NJPW	Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE	Samoa Joe
WWE	Dean Ambrose
WWE	Bobby Roode
WWE	The Miz
WWE
2018	Kenny Omega
NJPW	A.J. Styles
WWE	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	Brock Lesnar
WWE	Seth Rollins
WWE	Braun Strowman
WWE	Roman Reigns
WWE	Cody Rhodes
NWA/NJPW	Tetsuya Naito
NJPW	The Miz
WWE
2019	Seth Rollins
WWE	Daniel Bryan
WWE	A.J. Styles
WWE	Kofi Kingston
WWE	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	Johnny Gargano
WWE	Roman Reigns
WWE	Kenny Omega
AEW	Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW	Will Ospreay
NJPW
2020	Jon Moxley 	Adam Cole 	Chris Jericho	Drew McIntyre	Tetsuya Naito
NJPW	Kazuchika Okada
NJPW	Cody Rhodes
NWA/NJPW	Seth Rollins
WWE	Kofi Kingston
WWE	A.J. Styles
WWE
2021	Kenny Omega	Roman Reigns	Bobby Lashley	Kota Ibushi 	Jon Moxley	Will Ospreay	Finn Bálor	Shingo Takagi	Rich Swann	
== PWI Women's 100 ==
PWI has published a list of the top female professional wrestlers each year since 2008 in a special edition magazine, the Women's 100 (formerly known as Female 50). Like the list of male professional wrestlers, PWI writers choose the position of the wrestler following a designated evaluation period starting from mid-June; anything a wrestler accomplished before or after that period is not considered. In 2018, after ten years of the list including 50 wrestlers, it was expanded to 100, and renamed from Female 50 to Women's 100.
Year	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10
2008	Awesome Kong
Impact	Beth Phoenix
WWE 	Gail Kim
WWE/Impact	Mickie James
WWE 	MsChif
NWA 	Sara Del Rey 	Roxxi Laveaux 	Melina
WWE 	Michelle McCool
WWE	Candice Michelle
WWE
2009	Mickie James
WWE 	Angelina Love
Impact	Melina
WWE 	MsChif
NWA 	Tara
Impact 	Awesome Kong
Impact	Beth Phoenix
WWE	Michelle McCool
WWE	Maryse
WWE 	Taylor Wilde
2010	Michelle McCool
WWE	Angelina Love
Impact	Mercedes Martinez
MXW/Shimmer/WXW	Cheerleader Melissa	Eve Torres
WWE	Madison Rayne
Shimmer	Beth Phoenix
WWE	Mickie James
WWE	MsChif
Impact 	Maryse
WWE
2011	Madison Eagles 	Mercedes Martinez 	Mickie James
Impact	Natalya
WWE 	Madison Rayne 	Cheerleader Melissa	Beth Phoenix
WWE	Tara
Impact 	MsChif
Impact 	Sara Del Rey
2012	Gail Kim
Impact 	Beth Phoenix
WWE 	Cheerleader Melissa	Sara Del Rey 	Jessicka Havok	Layla
WWE 	Miss Tessmacher	Saraya Knight	Mercedes Martinez	Tara
2013	Cheerleader Melissa	Mickie James
Impact	Saraya Knight 	Jessicka Havok 	Kaitlyn
WWE 	Gail Kim 	Kacee Carlisle 	Tara 	AJ Lee 	Mercedes Martinez
2014	Paige
WWE 	AJ Lee
WWE 	Gail Kim
Impact 	Cheerleader Melissa	LuFisto 	Angelina Love 	Ivelisse Velez 	Courtney Rush	Natalya 	Charlotte
2015	Nikki Bella
WWE 	Paige
WWE 	Sasha Banks
WWE 	Santana Garrett 	Gail Kim
Impact	Charlotte 	Naomi 	Cherry Bomb 	Courtney Rush 	Taryn Terrell
2016	Charlotte
WWE 	Sasha Banks
WWE 	Asuka
WWE 	Becky Lynch
WWE 	Bayley
WWE 	Jade 	Natalya 	Gail Kim 	Sexy Star 	Sienna
2017	Asuka
WWE 	Charlotte Flair
WWE	Alexa Bliss
WWE 	Sasha Banks
WWE 	Bayley
WWE 	Io Shirai 	Natalya 	Sienna 	Naomi 	Kairi Sane
2018	Ronda Rousey
WWE 	Alexa Bliss
WWE 	Charlotte Flair
WWE	Io Shirai
WWE 	Asuka
WWE 	Shayna Baszler 	Carmella 	Nia Jax 	Mayu Iwatani 	Kairi Sane
2019	Becky Lynch
WWE 	Charlotte Flair
WWE	Ronda Rousey
WWE 	Shayna Baszler
WWE 	Tessa Blanchard
Impact	Bayley 	Natalya 	Io Shirai 	Mercedes Martinez	Nicole Savoy
2020	Bayley 	Becky Lynch
WWE 	Asuka
WWE 	Charlotte Flair
WWE	Sasha Banks
WWE	Hikaru Shida 	Tessa Blanchard	Riho 	Io Shirai 	Mayu Iwatani
2021	Bianca Belair 	Utami Hayashishita	Deonna Purrazzo 	Britt Baker 	Thunder Rosa 	Sasha Banks 	Syuri 	Io Shirai 	Tam Nakano 	Raquel González
Category:Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Category:Wrestling Awards