Flo’s Christian Pyles and Willie Saylor named WIN’s 2016 Journalists of the Year

NEWTON, Iowa — Neither Christian Pyles nor Willie Saylor were known as journalists before they joined FloWrestling, but together they have created a provocative and entertaining program — FloWrestling Radio Live — and have been named the winners of the 2016 WIN Journalist of the Year Award.

“Media coverage of wrestling simply must become more engaging for current fans and entertaining for possible new fans if the sport is going to grow,” said WIN Publisher Bryan Van Kley. “What impresses me the most about Christian and Willie is the passion they bring to their coverage of wrestling.

“It’s obvious when listening to them that both truly understand the sport and love it themselves. Those two variables then make their coverage both engaging and entertaining to listen to. They’re worthy recipients of the Journalist of the Year Award.”

Christian Pyles (left) and Willie Saylor

What’s even more remarkable is that Pyles, a former teacher and coach, hosts the show from his Virginia home, while Saylor, who once focused on fiction writing, connects with Pyles from Austin, Texas, the home of FloWrestling … or from somewhere on the road while they both cover national events.

And they each have a unique style of educating and entertaining wrestling fans from their podcasts that can be found at FloWrestling.com. Among one of their more favorite shows had to deal with race in wrestling.

“We don’t go out with the intent of hurting people’s feelings, but we are going to be honest about how we do things,” said Pyles. “We do tackle uncomfortable things.”

“When there is commentary, there is also change,” said Saylor. “Even if change does not happen right away, people think about it.”

A more detailed story of this announcement can be found in the latest issue of WIN, which was printed May 27. To subscribe to WIN, call 888-303-0606 or go to https://subscribe.win-magazine.com.

All-Time WIN Journalists of the Year