Pro Wrestling Illustrated
From Freepedia
Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine that covers all wrestling promotions.
Contents |
History
Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 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, treating "storyline" events as real.
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 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. Two companies in Japan have World Title status: AJPW and NJPW. ECW finally earned World Title status in 2000.
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.
PWI is headquartered in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania and published by London Publishing Company.
PWI's biggest competition is no longer from other wrestling magazines, but from the Internet. Results are reported faster online then 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. They put a ballot in the special year-end issue for each category, and the fans vote for the winners. Then, 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 PWI Awards can show the true reaction of the fans in general to each wrestler. 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 (1972 to present), Tag Team of the Year (1972 to present), Match of the Year (1972 to present), Feud of the Year (1986 to present), Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1972 to present), Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1972 to present), Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1978 to present), Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1972 to present), Rookie of the Year(1972 to present), Comeback of the Year (1992 to present), Woman of the Year (2000 to present), Editor's Award (1981 to present), Manager of the Year (1972 to 1999), Girl Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976), Midget Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976) and 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:
- 1991: Image:Us flag large.png Hulk Hogan
- 1992: Image:Us flag large.png Sting (Steve Borden)
- 1993: Image:Canada flag large.png Bret Hart
- 1994: Image:Canada flag large.png Bret Hart
- 1995: Image:Us flag large.png Diesel (Kevin Nash)
- 1996: Image:Us flag large.png Shawn Michaels
- 1997: Image:Us flag large.png Dean Malenko
- 1998: Image:Us flag large.png Stone Cold Steve Austin
- 1999: Image:Us flag large.png Stone Cold Steve Austin
- 2000: Image:Us flag large.png Triple H (Paul Levesque)
- 2001: Image:Us flag large.png Kurt Angle
- 2002: Image:Us flag large.png Rob Van Dam
- 2003: Image:Us flag large.png Brock Lesnar
- 2004: Image:Canada flag large.png Chris Benoit
- 2005: Image:Us flag large.png David Batista
PWI All Time Top 500
In the 2004 Almanac, PWI compiled a list of the All-Time Top 500 wrestlers based on their history of rankings. Here are the top five from that list:
- 1: Image:Us flag large.png Sting
- 2: Image:Us flag large.png Stone Cold Steve Austin
- 3: Image:Us flag large.png Undertaker
- 4: Image:Us flag large.png Kurt Angle
- 5: Image:Japan flag large.png Keiji Mutoh
PWI Years Top 500
In 2003, PWI compiled a list of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" and a list of the top 100 tag teams of the "PWI Years".
Singles Wrestlers
The top five singles wrestlers were:
- 1: Image:Us flag large.png Hulk Hogan
- 2: Image:Us flag large.png Ric Flair
- 3: Image:France flag large.png André the Giant
- 4: Image:Canada flag large.png Bret Hart
- 5: Image:Japan flag large.png Antonio Inoki
Tag Teams
The top five tag teams were:
- 1: Image:Us flag large.png The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal)
- 2: Image:Us flag large.png Rick & Scott Steiner
- 3: Image:Us flag large.png The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy)
- 4: Image:Us flag large.png The Rock 'N Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
- 5: Image:England flag large.png The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid)
Sources
- 2004 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts.
