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

From on the ground in Japan, here’s a special preview of the second produce show promoted by Sareee, complete with words from the joshi superstar herself. TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY BY ISSA MARIE [except for official show graphics] Following the success of Sareee-ISM Chapter 1, a complete sellout with a high streaming rate, Sareee is ready to do it again. This time, at Sareee-ISM Chapter 2, she is giving fans the best of the Western and Japanese styles by forming a pro wrestling dream team with the former IWGP Women’s Champion, KAIRI.  While in Japan, I had the opportunity to speak with Sare ..read more

Beyond the pages of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, here is the extended version of our written conversation with freelance joshi standout Miyuki Takase, which formed the basis of our “One To Watch” feature in the October 2023 edition of PWI magazine. Our special thanks to Mr. Haku for his assistance with conducting and translating the interview. PWI: What are some of your earliest memories of wrestling? Who were the performers that drew you to the sport? Takase: I actually began wrestling with zero knowledge; I didn’t know the rules, the history, or wrestlers. The first wrestler that caught my at ..read more

Introducing: Vintage Wrestling Magazine Packs THREE YEARS INTO my tenure as PWI Editor-in-Chief, I continue to be amazed by the depth and breadth of the archives around Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine and its sister publications. The former London Publishing empire once adorned newsstands with numerous wrestling titles. Well before the 1979 debut of PWI, Stanley Weston’s team of journalists and photographers was responsible for numerous other titles. Most notably, these included Inside Wrestling and The Wrestler, which survived until about a decade ago as a two-in-one publication. Other for ..read more

How Actwres girl’Z Continues To Shape Joshi Pro Wrestling TEXT & PHOTOS* BY ISSA MARIE (*except where noted) IN PRO WRESTLING, the desire for viewing alternatives may be at an all-time high. Fans and analysts consistently speak on the need for promoters and wrestlers to provide something truly different. And yet, in Japan, you will notice that most companies share a similar structure in their training and business models … and that is why Actwres girl’Z stands apart. Sixteen years ago, AWG President Keiji Sakaguchi created one of the most innovative concepts in the industry: a school and p ..read more