Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) is a professional wrestling magazine.

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 show preferential treatment to the "big" promotions. Any information about the small independent promotions is duly reported. The magazine features stories about wrestlers and wrestling groups/teams. PWI also has monthly rankings for the big promotions, some independents, and 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. ECW finally earned World Title recognition status in 1999, not long before ECW itself went out of business. In August 2006, TNA's heavyweight and tag belts were given world title status.

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 fictitous, 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. A ballot is printed in the special year-end issue, and the fans ostensibly vote for the winners. However, this has been disputed by wrestling news websites, which have claimed that winners are in fact selected by the magazine's editors.

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)
Editor's Award (since 1981)
Comeback of the Year (since 1992)
Woman of the Year (since 2000)

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)

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 its list of the top 500 wrestlers each year, called the PWI 500. It is an annual special edition magazine that they have compiled since 1991. Here are the number one ranked wrestlers for each year:

Hulk Hogan Sting Bret Hart Bret Hart Diesel Shawn Michaels Dean Malenko Stone Cold Steve Austin Stone Cold Steve Austin Triple H Kurt Angle Rob Van Dam Brock Lesnar Chris Benoit Batista