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Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Spring 2025 Edition
This column appears in the Spring 2025 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine.
BLONDER AND BLONDER
AS WE BEGAN SENDING out this year’s Achievement Award plaques, we noticed an emerging trend among the winners. In 2023, the movie Barbie was a massive commercial and critical success. And in pro wrestling, 2024 seemed to be the year of the blond bombshell.
If you’re reading this column, you’ve probably already perused the cover. Three of the industry’s most captivating stars—Liv Morgan, Toni Storm, and Mariah May—are posed with their PWI Award plaques. At the risk of getting a bit “inside baseball,” I’d like to draw back the curtain regarding how that cover came about.
As typically happens in mid-to-late-December, Awards voting closed. Votes were tallied, and winners were determined. Plaques were made up. Finally, in the thick of the holiday season, official photoshoots began to take place.
Before long, we started receiving back images of the winning wrestlers hamming it up with the fruits of their labor. We opted to feature three women whose performances stood apart this year—and who genuinely seemed thrilled to receive their PWI Award plaques.
Here’s a little secret. If we’d had another week or two at our disposal, these women likely would’ve been joined on the cover by another fair-haired overachiever: Cody Rhodes.
With bleach-blond locks that are as synonymous with him as those neck and chest tattoos, Rhodes made a killing in this year’s Awards voting, taking home the honors in four separate categories.
The visual of “The American Nightmare” with an armful of award plaques could’ve easily landed the man his third PWI cover in less than a year. And wouldn’t it have been cool to see Rhodes share that space with three women who also enjoyed the finest year of their respective careers?
Alas, due to the holiday Smackdown taping schedule, we couldn’t guarantee we’d have the Cody Rhodes photo in time for our press deadline. (Indeed, as I write this column, that’s still up in the air.)
As you might imagine, every Pro Wrestling Illustrated cover is vitally important, as each one provides a crucial first impression to would-be readers at newsstands. And, as fate would have it, this one had to be locked and loaded before Cody Rhodes could be handed his well-earned plaques. So, we decided to lean into the “Blondes Have More Fun” concept while spotlighting three women who certainly seemed to be having the time of their lives.
Of course, it’s not only blondes who had fun in 2024. Dominik Mysterio had a blast garnering votes for Most Hated Wrestler, while Kelani Jordan was delighted to receive her Rookie of the Year plaque. CM Punk hasn’t dipped into the peroxide in years, but he and fellow brunette Drew McIntyre took great pleasure in their award-winning rivalry. And Matt Cardona, who has been known to rock the frosted tips on occasion, was denied a threepeat as Indie Wrestler of the Year. (Turn to page 30 to find out who took his place!)
I’ve been blond exactly once in my life. Yes, there are pictures; no, I will not be sharing them. Regardless, this salt-and-pepper-haired editor sure had a lot of fun putting together the Spring 2025 edition of PWI. From the Achievement Awards and “Year In Photos” to contributor memories and your “Unofficial Official Awards,” this issue is consistently one of my favorites to edit (and, yes, to read later on).
To rehash a sentiment I’ve shared multiple times in this space: I hope you have just as much fun reading it as we did working on it. Cheers to a fantastic new year!
Kevin McElvaney
Editor-in-Chief