Pro Wrestling Illustrated April 2022

TEMPTING AS IT is to use this space to reminisce about 2021, that’s not what I’m going to do here. At the risk of seeming biased, I’ve instead got some things I’d like to say about Maxwell Jacob Friedman. This year, MJF took home PWI’s notorious Most Hated Wrestler of the Year Award in what amounted to a landslide. He received more votes for Most Hated than any winner in any other category. He’s ably played his job as a villain, although he’s crossed a few lines that some of us wished he wouldn’t have. (That comment about Melanie Pillman? C’mon, Max.) Friedman has made a choice to be detestable, and it’s mostly working out. As much as he claims to be “Salt Of The Earth,” he’s been pretty much untouchable in…

“RIGHT NOW, FOR me, I feel like an old nanny. I’ve told him: ‘I don’t care how good you are, you stay away, get healthy, concentrate on you.’” Shawn Michaels directed those words to his best friend, Triple H, who was apparently aching to return to his day-to-day duties at NXT and the WWE Performance Center. “He put in a fabulous team here and that’s why it’s able to continue on without him, because he put phenomenal people in place,” Michaels told Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald. “I’m just the guy that gets to expedite everything and run traffic, so to speak. The team he put in place was prepared for these kinds of days and we want him to get healthy.” That team includes some of Triple H’s closest confidants, such…

“One of the reasons the ‘forbidden door’ was opened with New Japan was partly due to what we’re all struggling with now, which is a pandemic. It forced us to take a step back and stop worrying about our own stuff and see what kind of world we’re all living in, and how we need to set aside our petty differences.”– Kenny Omega, August 2021, “Hotseat”“Right now, we’re spoiled by how good technically everybody is. The thought is that everybody was so great technically back then. And they really weren’t. The wrestlers of today put far, far more thought and far more emphasis on match quality.”– Dave Meltzer, November 2021, “Hotseat”“When you see that Los Ingobernables de Japon pose, us beating our chests and raising our right fists, that means…

BEFORE WE BEGIN this section, let’s acknowledge the massive elephant in the room—and, by “in the room,” we mean on the cover of this magazine. After a respectable showing in last year’s Achievement Awards, All Elite Wrestling has absolutely dominated the 2021 edition with wins in almost every category. As the numbertwo American promotion has continued to make strides in not only influence, but TV ratings and live-gate revenue, our readers have shown overwhelming enthusiasm for the efforts of AEW. Considering last year’s voting was relatively split—with AEW winning some key awards, as WWE held quite strong overall—what explains the drastic changes this year? Well, for one thing, it’s worth noting that WWE, despite only winning a single award in 2021, still garnered many votes in each category (besides the Indie Wrestler…

JADE CARGILL (35%) THE TERM “METEORIC rise” is a cliche you hear used quite frequently in the world of professional wrestling. Let it be known that Jade Cargill’s rookie year can be described as such while being as far from cliche as possible. Having debuted in March, Cargill’s professional career will have only spanned about nine months as we reach the end of 2021. And, while her resume is short, it is certainly stacked. Debuting in AEW as a mouthpiece for basketball Hall-of-Famer and fellow pro wrestling novice Shaquille O’Neal, Cargill instantly entered into a feud with the Rhodes family, before embarking on a lengthy undefeated streak. As a participant in the TBS Championship Tournament with a first-round bye, Cargill has been earmarked as a potential finalist, currently awaiting her match against…

MANBUN OF THE YEAR: Brock Lesnar Zachary Emberton, St. Peter, MN GOMEZ & MORTICIA 2021: Dexter Lumis & Indi Hartwell John J. Siget III, Rochester, PA BEST THEME SONG: Chris Jericho Michael Neel, Mt. Olive, WV FUTURE WORLD CHAMPION: MJF Paul Giacobetti, Niagara Falls, ON FUTURE WOMEN'S CHAMPION: Tay Conti Irvin Deitz, Highspire, PA WWE’S LOSS, AEW’S GAIN: Adam Cole Matthew Davis, Parma Heights, OH SEXIEST WRESTLER OF 2021: Jey Uso Sarah Duckett, Hawkinsville, GA I’M NOT CRYING, I SWEAR: Return of CM Punk Curtis Pollanen, Northern Ontario INTERVIEWER OF THE YEAR: Kayla Braxton Christopher Speights, Edgefield, SC SO BAD, HE COULD’VE TURNED OLE ANDERSON GOOD: MJF Brent Ruttan, Toronto, ON THE WRATH OF KHAN 2.0: Nick Khan’s Cost-Cutting Ways John Risley, Hanford, CA SHE-HULK FAN CLUB: Shotzi Blackheart Robert Cohen, Albertson, NY HAYABUSA REINCARNATED: Will Ospreay Chad Ellis, Taunton, MA GUEST STAR OF THE YEAR: Chucky Blade Culver, Locke, NY HOT TUB TIME MACHINE MATCH: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera Greg Watkins, Moravia, NY WE LOVE YOU & WE MISS YOU: Daffney Steve Russell, Calgary, AB NEW…