Does The PWI 500 Have Any Credibility?
Pro Wrestling Illustrated published its annual PWI 500 recently. The team at the magazine has been ranking and printing what it deems to be the best 500 wrestlers in the industry every single year since it first decided to do so in 1991. It's an incredibly tall order, and we'd be very surprised if even the most hardened wrestling fan could even name 500 active wrestlers, let alone know their bodies of work well enough to rank them.
The 12-month period this year's 500 was being judged on would have been different from any other in PWI history. The evaluation period begins in mid-June and runs for a full year. That means barring the odd show for major promotions, almost the entire window took place during the pandemic when fans weren't in attendance and some companies were shut down entirely. PWI still managed it though, awarding the number one spot to Kenny Omega for the second time in his career.
Only Number One Matters
The reveal that The Cleaner had made it to number one started up a heated debate between fans and even some in the business over who should have been in that spot. The other contender was Roman Reigns, and even those who help assemble the list have admitted the decision could have gone either way. Everyone had their fun arguing for a few days, and then the dust settled. This begs the question, after 30 years, does the PWI 500 still hold any credibility?
What we're not doing here is doubting the amount of work that goes into putting together the list each and every year. As touched upon above, it's a task most people simply wouldn't be able to complete. What we're questioning is what the list actually means in 2021. A list of 500 wrestlers, ranked in order of their ability using whatever system PWI uses, was published not that long ago. However, could you name who finished where outside of the top two?
If you answered yes and started reeling off the rest of the top ten and beyond, good for you. The fact of the matter is you probably answered no. I couldn't even tell you who completed the top three this year without heading to Wikipedia to check. The same goes for previous winners. Lists pored over for months, only for most people to only pay attention to the top two, and perhaps even only number one if it isn't as close as it was this year.
Do The Boys Care?
You also have to question how much wrestlers care about their placing in the PWI 500. There are countless tales told by wrestlers who were around during the PWI 500's infancy about the boys pretending they didn't care, making fun of those who openly admitted to wanting to know where they had placed. Truth is, wrestlers probably did care more about the list 25 years ago. The internet wasn't really around yet which meant PWI in general was a bigger deal. The PWI 500 quickly became its biggest issue of the year, meaning a lot of eyes were on it. If you were featured, particularly in a high spot, it was probably going to give your career a boost, even if it was a small one.
Fast forward to today and those same eyes aren't on PWI, even though the list is obviously published online. Unless you're a wrestler who might find themselves on there, and we're talking a lesser-known indie star who will get a kick out of being the 361st best wrestler in the world, then once again, you probably don't care about the bulk of the names to make the cut.
Above all else is the keyword in the title of this very article: credibility. Who exactly are the people compiling this list? Bill Apter was a part of that team once upon a time. A legend in the wrestling business whose name lends credibility to anything it is associated with. Apter is no longer a part of the committee which means the list is being compiled by people working at PWI. It is based on the opinions of a handful of journalists, which is why the wrestler who makes it to number one is almost always hotly debated.
Again, the work that goes into assembling the list cannot be understated. If anything, that just makes the lack of credibility the list has in the present day even more disheartening. That most of the list means nothing outside of indie wrestlers checking out to see if they made it this year. PWI will reveal its top 500 again in 2022, and once again we will all check whose number one, scan the top ten, and that'll probably be it. Place your bets now for who will be deemed the best of the year this time next year.
