Back Pro Wrestling Illustrated Czech Pro Wrestling Illustrated Danish Pro Wrestling Illustrated German Pro Wrestling Illustrated Spanish Pro Wrestling Illustrated French Pro Wrestling Illustrated ID Pro Wrestling Illustrated Italian プロレスリング・イラストレーテッド Japanese 프로레슬링 일러스트레이티드 Korean Pro Wrestling Illustrated Dutch
 | |
 The cover of the January 1986 edition of the magazine | |
| 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 |
| Part of a series on |
| Professional wrestling |
|---|
 |
Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston.[1] 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.
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,[as of?] the PWI has moved away from reporting on storylines as actual news and mixed in editorial comments on the behind-the-scenes workings of wrestling.
Since 1991, PWI has been publishing its annual "Top 500 Wrestlers" listing 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 and then again in 2021 as the "Top 150 Female Wrestlers." In 2020, they added an annual "Top 50 Tag Teams" listing the top tag teams in the world.
- ^ "About Us". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.