Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) is a professional wrestling magazine.
History
Pro Wrestling Illustrated was started in 1979. The magazine was known for not breaking kayfabe, 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.
Originally 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".
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 PWIs 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 Golden Boy Enterprises.
PWIs 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)
PWI Girl Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976)
Midget Wrestler of the Year (1972 to 1976)
PWI Announcer of the Year (1977)
Recognized championships with World Title status
PWI has its own personal criteria when it comes to classify the championships that have "World Title Status".
World Heavyweight titles
Pro Wrestling Illustrated has granted world title status to the following promotions: National Wrestling Alliance, World Wrestling Entertainment (and its previous names), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, American Wrestling Association (now defunct, and not to be confused with post-1991 versions of the AWA, though PWI considers their championships to be a single title), Extreme Championship Wrestling (now defunct and not to be confused with the WWE version of ECW even though their championships are the same), World Championship Wrestling (now defunct). PWI currently recognizes both of the world championships in the WWE and differentiates them as the WWE RAW World Championship (currently the World Heavyweight Championship), the WWE SmackDown! World Championship (currently the WWE Championship). Also the NWA Championship is currently only given world title status from 1948 to 1991 and again from 2002 to 2007 and the ECW Championship from 1999 to 2001.
PWI World Champions
Number of world title reigns (as of August 29 2008)
Footnotes
PWI recognizes one of Flair's reigns from the '80s, unlike WWE. WWE recognizes his 10th NWA reign in 1993, unlike PWI. His 8th NWA reign and 1st WCW reign are considered by both PWI and WWE as one single reign.
Pat O'Connor held both of his AWA and NWA titles at the same time, meaning his total reigns length lasted 903 days not 1,488. Chris Jericho won his second WCW title and his WWE title on the same day, meaning his total reigns length lasted 113 days not 114. Randy Orton won both of his WWE titles on the same day, meaning his total reigns length lasted 231 days not 232.
World Tag Team titles
Pro Wrestling Illustrated has historically granted world tag team title status to the following promotions: World Wrestling Entertainment (and its previous names), National Wrestling Alliance, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, American Wrestling Association (now defunct, and not to be confused with post-1991 versions of the AWA, though PWI considers their championships to be a single title), Extreme Championship Wrestling (now defunct) and World Championship Wrestling (now defunct). PWI currently recognizes two world tag team championships in WWE and differentiates them as the WWE Raw World Tag Team Championship (currently the World Tag Team Championship) and the WWE SmackDown! World Tag Team Championship (currently the WWE Tag Team Championship). It should also be noted that, although the NWA recognizes its World Tag Team Championship since 1992 onwards, PWI only gives world tag team title status to reigns from 2002 to 2007.
PWI World Tag Team Champions
Number of world tag team title reigns:
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 canceled 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 since 1991, in an annual special edition magazine called the PWI 500. Here are the top ten ranked wrestlers for each year:
References
2005 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts.
External links
Official site
Online Resource for PWI 500
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