Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

2014 PWI Year-end Awards cover featuring Daniel Bryan
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

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.