PWI Rookie of the Year

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The PWI Rookie of the Year Award, given yearly since 1972 by professional wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated, recognizes the best professional wrestler of the year who, in that year, had their first year in the business, as voted by readers of the magazine. As it is a rookie award, wrestlers can qualify only once.

[edit] Award winners and runners-up

Year Winner First runner-up Second runner-up Third runner-up
1972 Mike Graham
1973 Bob Orton, Jr. / Tony Garea
1974 Larry Zbyszko
1975 Ric Flair
1976 Bob Backlund Chavo Guerrero Steve Keirn Johnny Rivera
1977 Ricky Steamboat Jimmy Snuka Big John Studd Skip Young
1978 Tommy Rich Jay Youngblood David Von Erich Tully Blanchard
1979 Sweet Brown Sugar (Koko B. Ware) Steve Travis Bryan St. John Eddie Gilbert
1980 Terry Taylor Barry Windham Rick McGraw Tom Prichard
1981 David Sammartino Brad Rheingans Curt Hennig Ron Richie
1982 Brad Armstrong Tiger Mask Mike Rotunda Kamala
1983 Angelo Mosca, Jr. King Kong Bundy Scott Armstrong Arn Anderson
1984 Mike Von Erich Nikita Koloff Krusher Khruschev (Barry Darsow) Kevin Kelly
1985 Nord the Barbarian Kendall Windham Dan Spivey Sam Houston
1986 Lex Luger Bam Bam Bigelow Sting Tom Magee
1987 Owen Hart Big Bubba Rogers Shane Douglas Doug Furnas
1988 Madusa Miceli Chris Benoit Maxx Payne Scott Steiner
1989 The Destruction Crew (Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom) Dustin Rhodes Scotty the Body (Raven) Johnathan Holliday
1990 Steve Austin El Gigante Brad Anderson Chris Chavis
1991 Johnny B. Badd The Patriot Terri Power The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman)
1992 Erik Watts Diamond Dallas Page Vladimir Koloff Chaz
1993 Vampire Warrior (Gangrel) Robbie Eagle Kent and Keith Cole The Headhunters
1994 911 Bob Holly Abbudah Singh (Balls Mahoney) Mikey Whipwreck
1995 Alex Wright Craig Pittman Lawrence Taylor Madd Maxxine
1996 The Giant (The Big Show) Steve McMichael Rocky Maivia (The Rock) Joe Gomez
1997 Prince Iaukea Ernest Miller ("The Cat") Chris Chetti Brakkus
1998 Goldberg Sable Droz Mark Henry
1999 Shane McMahon Evan Karagias Vince McMahon Lash LeRoux
2000 Kurt Angle Lita Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire Chuck Palumbo
2001 Randy Orton Brock Lesnar K-Kwik (Ron Killings) The Prototype (John Cena)
2002 Maven Christopher Nowinski Nidia Taylor Matheny
2003 Zach Gowen Sylvain Grenier Trinity Matt Morgan
2004 Monty Brown Petey Williams Johnny Nitro (John Morrison) Matt Cappotelli
2005 Bobby Lashley Christy Hemme Mikey Batts Ken Doane (Kenny Dykstra)
2006 Boogeyman Charles Evans Akebono Cody Runnels (Cody Rhodes)
2007 Hornswoggle Ted DiBiase, Jr. Pelle Primeau Mike DiBiase

[edit] References

[edit] See also

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PWI Awards
Current Awards
Discontinued Awards
Languages