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.

The magazine soon became known for not breaking kayfabe in its articles as it traditionally treated all "angles", or storylines, as real.

However, in more recent years the magazine has taken an editorial approach between kayfabe and "shoot" writing, differentiating between on-screen feuds and controversies behind the scenes.

A special PWI Awards Magazine is issued annually, which reveals winners and the number of votes counted.

[2] This coincided with the WWF's withdrawal from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in summer 1983.

[7] Subsequently, after Ric Flair left WCW and was stripped of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in July 1991, PWI and its sister publications nonetheless continued to recognize the WCW title as held by Lex Luger, Sting, Vader, and Ron Simmons as the rightful continuation of the historic NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.

[14] According to the annual PWI almanac, PWI still recognizes select world title reigns from May 4, 1905 – January 28, 1946, before the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in July 1948,[17] mostly conforming to the lineage traditionally traced backwards 1948-1905 by the NWA for their World Heavyweight Championship.

They follow a criterion that includes win–loss record, championships won, quality of competition, major feuds, prominence within a wrestler's promotion(s), and overall wrestling ability.

In 1993, Miss Texas (Jacqueline Moore) became the first woman to be ranked in the list, at number 249.

PWI has published a list of the top female professional wrestlers each year since 2008 in a special edition magazine.

PWI writers rank the wrestlers following a designated evaluation period starting from October; a minimum of 10 matches or 4 months as a tag team is required.