Publisher Stu Saks Publisher Kappa Publishing Group Language English | Frequency Monthly Country United States Website www.pwi-online.com | |
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Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) is an American produced, internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1972. 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".
Contents
The PWI is often referred to as an "Apter Mag", named after its long time publisher Bill Apter, a term used for wrestling magazines that keep kayfabe, the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport and not scripted entertainment. 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, the company publishes year end events as well as their "Top 500 Wrestlers" as well as "Top 50 Female wrestlers" lists.
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.
PWI world championship status
The following shows which championships have been recognized by the magazine's editors as world titles. 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. As of August 21, 2016, only the WWE and WWE Universal Championships are recognized as world titles.
PWI 500
PWI has published its list of the top 500 professional wrestlers each year since 1991 in an annual special edition magazine called the PWI 500. PWI writers choose the position of the wrestler following a designated evaluation period. Anything a wrestler accomplished before or after that period – whether it's winning a world title or doing an opening match job – is not considered. Also, 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 2016, 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; she was No. 249. Here are the top ten ranked wrestlers for each year: