ALISHA EDWARDS Talks Dream Opponents, The Intersection Between Real Life & Wrestling, And Lots More PHOTO COURTESY TNA WRESTLING Every opportunity that I’ve been given, I’m trying to show what I can do. And I think I’ve been able to show that I’m just not a pretty face and I’m just not a manager. FOLLOWING ON FROM our last interview we did with Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards, PWI Contributing Writer Jason McVeigh recently caught up with another member of TNA Wrestling’s The System, Alisha Edwards. McVEIGH: You’ve been with TNA for quite a while, but, in my opinion, you are doing the best ..read more

Wrestling In The Land Of Independence From Sydney to St. Louis, Shazza McKenzie left behind a good life in her native Australia in the pursuit of true happiness. TEXT BY KEVIN McELVANEY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAMANTHA CRIM IT WAS MEANT TO BE “one last hurrah.” So says Shazza McKenzie of her 2022 tour of the American indie circuit, which was chronicled in the two-part IWTV docuseries, Shazza Takes America. The popular Aussie grappler—a former Heart of SHIMMER champion and longtime fixture of PWI’s women’s rankings—wanted to make up for lost time. After all, pandemic-era travel restrictions had kept ..read more

Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards In Conversation With Pro Wrestling Illustrated The reigning TNA Wrestling World tag team champions reflect on their success to date and get real about their competition ahead of this weekend’s “Under Siege” event. TRUST THE SYSTEM: Eddie & Alisha Edwards talk shop with Brian Myers at a recent TNA Wrestling TV taping at South Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. (PHOTO BY KEVIN McELVANEY) FOR TWO VETERANS like Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards, spending your days basking in former glories could be a perfectly acceptable way to spend one’s career at this point. That’s not ..read more

It’s a rare thing for us to share news of a new Funko WWE Pop. Yet, we are several weeks removed from WrestleMania 40, the new Rock “Final Boss” Funko Pop is sold out, and there are a few new WWE Pops on the market for collectors to get excited about. One of them is the Pop! Drew McIntyre figure, complete with the Scottish wrestler’s signature sword and kilt. With rumors swirling of McIntyre leaving the WWE this year, this new Funko Pop in the likeness of the two-time WWE champion and former WWE World heavyweight champion may become an even hotter item than expected. There’s also a new Funko ..read more

DDT’s Star Rookie Is A Triple-Threat: Dancer, Actor, And Now … A Pro Wrestler! FEW WRESTLERS CAN SAY they’ve headlined the Tokyo Dome; even fewer can say they’ve done so ahead of their professional wrestling debut. But for Kaisei Takechi, who debuted in the main event of DDT Pro-Wrestling’s “Into The Fight 2024,” headlining arenas across Japan is nothing new. Indeed, it’s just part of his regular job as a performer in the 16-member J-pop group, THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE.  That group, composed of three vocalists and 13 performers, debuted in January 2017 as part of LDH JAPAN’s male art ..read more

The Popular YouTube Host, Wrestler, & Actor Will Face Multiple Opponents At PROGRESS Wrestling’s FREEDOM WALKS AGAIN event. Pro Wrestling Illustrated can confirm, exclusively, that Simon Miller is the first announced participant for the Multi-Man bout taking place at PROGRESS Wrestling’s upcoming FREEDOM WALKS AGAIN show in Philadelphia, PA, on Friday, April 5, 2024. Known to many for his work as a host for outlets such as Whatculture, along with his emceeing for PROGRESS itself, the charismatic Miller is still fighting tirelessly to prove his mettle as an in-ring performer. To that end ..read more

STING SPEAKS A Career Remembered Through PWI’s Pages Forty years. Two-dozen championships. Countless words about him in wrestling magazines. “The Icon” reflects on a career well-spent. TEXT BY COLETTE ARRAND AS ONE OF THE MOST widely respected wrestlers of the “PWI Years”—1979 to the present—Sting has earned every bit of coverage in this publication and others like it. Leading up to his announced retirement at All Elite Wrestling’s Revolution 2024, it made perfect sense to revisit some of the highlights of his legendary career by way of coverage in this very magazine. And so, we are pleased to ..read more

The following is taken from the March 2024 edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine, which hits newsstands in the U.S. and Canada on December 12, 2023. Before it was officially announced that Mariah May was “All Elite,” the latest addition to the AEW Women’s division took some time out of her schedule to chat with PWI. A QUICK WORD WITH … MARIAH MAY TEXT BY KEVIN McELVANEY PHOTOS BY OCTOPUS STRETCH PHOTOGRAPHY ON DECEMBER 29, 2022, at Stardom Dream Queendom 2, Cosmic Angels expat Mina Shirakawa introduced the world to Club Venus. Originally consisting of Shirakawa, Xia Brookside, and Mari ..read more

A look back at July 8, 2023, when Alex Kane defeated Alexander Hammerstone to win the MLW World heavyweight championship (as told by one of his top allies in the Bomaye Fight Club). TEXT BY O’SHAY EDWARDS You had to be there. To feel the 2300 building and bubbling over just ready for the moment where it all could just erupt. You had to be there. Alex Kane has been working his ass off for this moment for the better part of 20 years, before BOMAYE was even a catchphrase or a chant. And to be able to not only see it, but experience it first-hand, is one of the rare moments in wrestling that I wil ..read more

With numerous major championships on the line and scores to settle (The Bloodline, Seth Rollins & Finn Balor, and more), SummerSlam 2023 was sure to be an eventful return to Detroit, Michigan for WWE. TEXT BY JASON McVEIGH / PHOTOS BY JERRY VILLAGRANA THE LAST TIME WWE held a SummerSlam in the greater Detroit, Michigan, area was 1993, when Lex Luger rolled into town hoping to thwart the seemingly unstoppable World Wrestling Federation champion, Yokozuna. Luger had spent the summer trekking across the United States in a tour bus nicknamed “The Lex Express” in an attempt to drum up support ..read more