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 published English language wrestling magazine still in production. PWI publishes bi-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.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

2014 PWI 500 Cover featuring Daniel Bryan
Publisher	Stu Saks
Categories	Sports
Frequency	Monthly
Publisher	Kappa Publishing Group
First issue	September 1979
Country	United States
Language	English
Website	www.pwi-online.com
ISSN	1043-7576

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.

Since 1991, PWI has been publishing their annual "Top 500 Wrestlers" list, enumerating the top male wrestlers in the world. In 2008, they added an annual "Top 50 Female Wrestlers" list, which was later expanded and renamed to the "Top 100 Female Wrestlers" list in 2018. In 2020, they added an annual "Top 50 Tag Teams" list, enumerating the top tag teams in the world.

History

The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979. The magazine soon became known for not breaking kayfabe in its articles as it traditionally treated all "angles", or storylines, as real. However, in more recent years the magazine has taken an editorial approach between kayfabe and "shoot" writing, differentiating between on-screen feuds and controversies behind the scenes. PWI is not limited to covering only prominent professional wrestling promotions, as it also covers multiple independent promotions in the United States. PWI also publishes other special issues, which include: Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts since 1996, Women of Wrestling and a weekly newsletter entitled PWI Weekly from 1989 to 2000. It was eventually acquired by Golden Boy Enterprises.

PWI has given out annual awards and recognitions since its inception. These awards had previously been given out by another Victory Sports Magazine property, Sports Review Wrestling. PWI has also given out monthly rankings for the big promotions, some select independents, and an overall rankings in singles and tag teams. Additionally, readers are given the ability vote for the winners of the year-end awards with ballots being included in special year-end issues. A special PWI Awards magazine is issued annually, which reveals winners and the number of votes counted. The following is a list of categories in which PWI has issued awards.

• 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 (1972 to 1976, re-established in 2000)
• Manager of the Year (1972 to 1999)
• Midget Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976)
• Announcer of the Year (1977)

PWI world championship status

Historical recognition

Although many wrestling organisations promote their lead title as a World Heavyweight Championship, PWI has only recognized a few top versions as valid World titles at any one time. With regard to the NWA World Heavyweight championship, PWI has generally recognized the lineage retrospectively traced by the NWA from its 1948 formation back to Georg Hackenschmidt in 1905.[1] PWI has also recognized any tag team title corresponding to a recognized World title as a World Tag Team Championship.

Until March 1991, Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications steadfastly referred to WCW as "the NWA" despite WCW having increasingly phased out the latter name in the preceding months. In Spring 1991, the family of magazines adopted a new policy of referring to the current promotion and its champions as WCW and the promotion's pre-1991 past as the NWA. The magazine also announced it would refer to the overall history of the World title as the "NWA/WCW World Championship" (and likewise with other WCW championships).[2]

Subsequently, after Ric Flair left WCW and was stripped of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in July 1991, PWI and its sister publications nonetheless continued to recognize the WCW title as held by Lex Luger, Sting, Vader and Ron Simmons as the rightful continuation of the historic NWA World Heavyweight Championship. When Masa Chono won an NWA World title tournament in Japan in August 1992, PWI and its sister publications only recognized Chono's title as the "NWA Championship" and rejected it as a World title or as a continuation of the historic NWA World title.[3]

In 1983, Pro Wrestling Illustrated withdrew world title recognition from the WWF, citing how champion Bob Backlund was not facing contenders from outside the WWF territory and furthermore was only facing rulebreakers.[4] This coincided with the WWF's withdrawal from the NWA in summer 1983. PWI reinstated world title recognition in 1985[5] on account of the WWF's massive mainstream media profile.

The AWA was stripped of world title recognition in January 1991 when the promotion was in its final months.[6] By this time, the AWA World Heavyweight Championship was vacant and would remain so until the promotion's closure in August that year.[7] ECW was finally granted world title status in 1999 only for the promotion to close two years later.

Current retrospective recognition

As of April 3, 2020, PWI recognizes both the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, as well as the AEW World Championship and IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[8][9][10]

Championships	Dates
NWA World Heavyweight Championship	July 14, 1948 – January 11, 1991; May 8, 2006 – May 13, 2007
AWA World Heavyweight Championship	August 16, 1960 – December 12, 1990
WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship	April 25, 1963 – present
WCW World Heavyweight Championship	January 11, 1991 – December 9, 2001
ECW World Heavyweight Championship	July 6, 1999 – April 11, 2001
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)	September 2, 2002 – December 15, 2013
TNA World Heavyweight Championship	May 13, 2007 – June 29, 2015
WWE Universal Championship	August 21, 2016 – present
AEW World Championship	April 3, 2020 – present
IWGP Heavyweight Championship	April 3, 2020 – present

According to the latest PWI almanac, PWI also recognizes select world title reigns from May 4, 1905 – January 28, 1946, prior to the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in July 1948.

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.[11][12] As of 2020, Jushin Thunder Liger has appeared in the most editions of the PWI 500, with 29 appearances.[13] 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[14]	Hulk Hogan	Lex Luger	Ric Flair	Randy Savage	Sting	Scott Steiner	Ricky Steamboat	Steve Williams	Arn Anderson	Rick Steiner
1992[15]	Sting	Randy Savage		Rick Rude	Bret Hart	Ricky Steamboat	Jerry Lawler	Scott Steiner	The Ultimate Warrior	Stunning Steve Austin
1993[16]	Bret Hart	Big Van Vader	Shawn Michaels	Sting	Yokozuna	Ric Flair	Lex Luger	Rick Rude	Mr. Perfect	Scott Steiner
1994[17]		Hulk Hogan	Ric Flair	Big Van Vader	Shawn Michaels	Stunning Steve Austin	Razor Ramon	Sting	Ricky Steamboat	Owen Hart
1995[18]	Diesel	Shawn Michaels	Sting	Bret Hart	Sabu	Hulk Hogan	Big Van Vader	Randy Savage	Razor Ramon	Mitsuharu Misawa
1996[19]	Shawn Michaels	The Giant		Kenta Kobashi	Ahmed Johnson	Kevin Nash	Rey Misterio, Jr.	Hulk Hogan	Sabu	Ric Flair
1997[20]	Dean Malenko	Mitsuharu Misawa	Stone Cold Steve Austin	Diamond Dallas Page	Lex Luger	The Undertaker	Shinya Hashimoto	The Giant	Jushin Thunder Liger	Chris Benoit
1998[21]	Stone Cold Steve Austin	Goldberg	Mitsuharu Misawa		The Undertaker	Kenta Kobashi	Booker T	Ken Shamrock		Chris Jericho
1999[22]		Rob Van Dam		Rey Misterio, Jr.	The Rock	Diamond Dallas Page	Keiji Mutoh	The Undertaker	Goldberg	Taz
2000[23]	Triple H	The Rock	Chris Benoit	Kenta Kobashi	Jeff Jarrett	Justin Credible	Mike Awesome	Jushin Thunder Liger	Chris Jericho	Kensuke Sasaki
2001[24]	Kurt Angle	Stone Cold Steve Austin		Keiji Mutoh	Booker T	Triple H	Scott Steiner	Mitsuharu Misawa		Rhyno
2002[25]	Rob Van Dam	The Undertaker	Keiji Mutoh	Chris Jericho	Eddie Guerrero	Kurt Angle	Edge	Yuji Nagata	The Rock	Triple H
2003[26]	Brock Lesnar	Triple H	Kurt Angle	Keiji Mutoh	Chris Jericho	Big Show	Booker T	Kenta Kobashi	Eddie Guerrero	Rob Van Dam
2004[27]	Chris Benoit	Eddie Guerrero	Triple H	Kenta Kobashi	Randy Orton	Toshiaki Kawada	John Cena	A.J. Styles	Shawn Michaels	Chris Jericho
2005[28]	Batista	John Cena	Satoshi Kojima	Triple H	John Bradshaw Layfield	Kurt Angle	A.J. Styles	Edge	Shelton Benjamin	Hiroyoshi Tenzan
2006[29]	John Cena	Kurt Angle	Edge	Samoa Joe	Místico	Rey Mysterio	Brock Lesnar	Kenta Kobashi	Shawn Michaels	Jeff Jarrett
2007[30]		Edge	Místico	Kurt Angle	The Undertaker	Shawn Michaels	Christian Cage	Perro Aguayo, Jr.	Bobby Lashley	Takeshi Morishima
2008[31]	Randy Orton	Kurt Angle	Triple H	Samoa Joe	Edge	The Undertaker	Shawn Michaels	Nigel McGuinness	John Cena	Shinsuke Nakamura
2009[32]	Triple H	Chris Jericho	John Cena	Edge	Randy Orton	Nigel McGuinness	Hiroshi Tanahashi	CM Punk	Sting	Último Guerrero
2010[33]	A.J. Styles	John Cena	CM Punk	Randy Orton	Chris Jericho	Batista	Shinsuke Nakamura	The Undertaker	Kurt Angle	Sheamus
2011[34]	The Miz	Randy Orton	John Cena	Kane	Takashi Sugiura	Alberto Del Rio	Mr. Anderson	Rey Mysterio	Eddie Edwards	CM Punk
2012[35]	CM Punk	Bobby Roode		Daniel Bryan	Sheamus	Jun Akiyama	Davey Richards	Kurt Angle	Mark Henry	Alberto Del Rio
2013[36]	John Cena	CM Punk	Hiroshi Tanahashi	Bully Ray	Kazuchika Okada	Sheamus	Jeff Hardy	Alberto Del Rio	Dolph Ziggler	Kevin Steen
2014[37]	Daniel Bryan	Randy Orton	John Cena	A.J. Styles		Bray Wyatt	Roman Reigns	Magnus	Adam Cole	Bully Ray
2015[38]	Seth Rollins	John Cena	A.J. Styles	Roman Reigns	Shinsuke Nakamura	Randy Orton	Jay Briscoe	Rusev	Alberto El Patrón	Kevin Owens
2016[39]	Roman Reigns	Kazuchika Okada	Finn Bálor	A.J. Styles	Jay Lethal	Kevin Owens	Shinsuke Nakamura	Seth Rollins	Dean Ambrose	John Cena
2017[40]	Kazuchika Okada	A.J. Styles	Kevin Owens	Roman Reigns	Kenny Omega	Shinsuke Nakamura	Samoa Joe	Dean Ambrose	Bobby Roode	The Miz
2018[41]	Kenny Omega		Kazuchika Okada	Brock Lesnar	Seth Rollins	Braun Strowman	Roman Reigns	Cody Rhodes	Tetsuya Naito
2019[42]	Seth Rollins	Daniel Bryan	A.J. Styles	Kofi Kingston	Kazuchika Okada	Johnny Gargano		Kenny Omega	Hiroshi Tanahashi	Will Ospreay
2020[43]	Jon Moxley	Adam Cole	Chris Jericho	Drew McIntyre	Tetsuya Naito	Kazuchika Okada	Cody Rhodes	Seth Rollins	Kofi Kingston	AJ Styles

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.[44]

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2008[45]	Awesome Kong	Beth Phoenix	Gail Kim	Mickie James	MsChif	Sara Del Rey	Roxxi Laveaux	Melina	Michelle McCool	Candice Michelle
2009[46]	Mickie James	Angelina Love	Melina	MsChif	Tara	Awesome Kong	Beth Phoenix	Michelle McCool	Maryse	Taylor Wilde
2010[47]	Michelle McCool		Mercedes Martinez	Cheerleader Melissa	Eve Torres	Madison Rayne		Mickie James	MsChif	Maryse
2011[48]	Madison Eagles	Mercedes Martinez	Mickie James	Natalya	Madison Rayne	Cheerleader Melissa		Tara		Sara Del Rey
2012[49]	Gail Kim	Beth Phoenix	Cheerleader Melissa	Sara Del Rey	Jessicka Havok	Layla	Miss Tessmacher	Saraya Knight	Mercedes Martinez	Tara
2013[50]	Cheerleader Melissa	Mickie James	Saraya Knight	Jessicka Havok	Kaitlyn	Gail Kim	Kacee Carlisle	Tara	AJ Lee	Mercedes Martinez
2014[51]	Paige	AJ Lee	Gail Kim	Cheerleader Melissa	LuFisto	Angelina Love	Ivelisse Velez	Courtney Rush	Natalya	Charlotte
2015[52]	Nikki Bella	Paige	Sasha Banks	Santana Garrett	Gail Kim	Charlotte	Naomi	Cherry Bomb	Courtney Rush	Taryn Terrell
2016[53]	Charlotte	Sasha Banks	Asuka	Becky Lynch	Bayley	Jade	Natalya	Gail Kim	Sexy Star	Sienna
2017[54]	Asuka	Charlotte Flair	Alexa Bliss	Sasha Banks		Io Shirai		Sienna	Naomi	Kairi Sane
2018[55]	Ronda Rousey	Alexa Bliss	Charlotte Flair	Io Shirai	Asuka	Shayna Baszler	Carmella	Nia Jax	Mayu Iwatani
2019[56]	Becky Lynch	Charlotte Flair	Ronda Rousey	Shayna Baszler	Tessa Blanchard	Bayley	Natalya	Io Shirai	Mercedes Martinez	Nicole Savoy
2020[57]	Bayley	Becky Lynch	Asuka	Charlotte Flair	Sasha Banks	Hikaru Shida	Tessa Blanchard	Riho	Io Shirai	Mayu Iwatani

PWI Tag Team 50

PWI has published a list of the top tag team each year since 2020. PWI writers choose the position of the wrestler following a designated evaluation period starting from October; a minimum of 10 matches or 4 months as tag team is required.[58][59] The ranking included both male and female tag teams.

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2020[60]	FTR	Adam Page and Kenny Omega	Golden Role Models	The North	The Street Profits	Guerrillas of Destiny	Lucha Bros	The New Day	The Kabuki Warriors	Roppongi 3K

See also

• List of Pro Wrestling Illustrated awards

References

1. "The NWA was formed in 1948 but the NWA World Heavyweight championship is traditionally traced back to the World Heavyweight Championship that was created in 1905." = WWF vs NWA: Who's Better? Pro Wrestling Illustrated January 1991
2. Editorial, Wrestling '91, Spring 1991 edition
3. "The NWA World champion became the WCW World champion when the federation changed initials ... The initials may have changed, but Ron Simmons wears the same belt (figuratively, at least) in 1992 that Lou Thesz wore in 1952. Given that, Chono cannot be considered the NWA World champion in the historical sense ... We'll call him NWA champion because that is the title he won. But this article will be the last time we'll call him NWA World champion"
   – "Who Needs The Confusion? Why Reviving The NWA Title Was A Bad Idea." Inside Wrestling December 1992 edition, pages 38–41
4. Item: "Those Samoans Are Tough – Especially The Fourteenth Time!" 1983 Year In Review. Pro Wrestling Illustrated March 1984
5. "1985 ... July 2: Pro Wrestling Illustrated reinstates world title recognition for the WWF heavyweight title after more than two years of viewing it as a regional championship." Wrestling History, Pro Wrestling Illustrated Online, retrieved March 14, 2018
6. Pro Wrestling Illustrated strips the AWA of World Title Recognition – Pro Wrestling Illustrated May 1991
7. AWA World Heavyweight Title
8. "The New PWI". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. December 4, 2009. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
9. "PWI Will No Longer Recognize TNA World Heavyweight Championship". wrestlingnewsworld.com. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
10. PWI. "For those who are wondering, PWI currently recognizes four championships as legitimate World titles". twitter.com. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
11. "PWI 500: 1–100". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. August 9, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
12. PWI Senior Writer responds to 'Women’s 100' reactions - Diva Dirt
13. "Wrestlers with Most PWI 500 entries". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
14. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1991". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
15. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1992". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
16. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1993". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
17. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1994". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
18. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1995". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
19. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1996". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
20. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1997". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
21. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1998". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
22. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 1999". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
23. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2000". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
24. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2001". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
25. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2002". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
26. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2003". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
27. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2004". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
28. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2005". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
29. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2006". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
30. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2007". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
31. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2008". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
32. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2009". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
33. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2010". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
34. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2011". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
35. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2012". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
36. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2013". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
37. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
38. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2015". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
39. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
40. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
41. "PWI 500 2018: Kenny Omega is the second straight non-WWE wrestler named #1 in the world". Cageside Seats. August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
42. Lambert, Jeremy (August 29, 2019). "Seth Rollins Tops Annual PWI 500". Fightful. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
43. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2020". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
44. "Various News: PWI Female 50 Expanding to 100, Mikey Whipwreck Partners With Indy Promotion". 411 Mania. August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
45. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2008". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
46. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2009". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
47. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2010". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
48. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2011". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
49. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2012". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
50. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2013". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
51. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2014". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
52. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2015". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
53. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
54. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
55. "Various News: Ronda Rousey Tops The PWI Women's 100 List, WWE Free Match, Today's Wrestling Birthdays". 411 Mania. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
56. "Becky Lynch tops PWI Women's 100 list". Diva Dirt. October 31, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
57. "2020 PWI Women's 100: Top 10 reveal and full ranking details". Bell To Belles. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
58. https://twitter.com/OfficialPWI/status/1329170583393873926
59. https://twitter.com/OfficialPWI/status/1329126193472344068
60. Middleton, Marc (November 18, 2020). "FTR Takes Top Spot On The Inaugural PWI Tag Team 50 List". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved November 23, 2020.

• 2005 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts.

External links

• Official site