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Though Queen of the Ring’s ambitious scope renders the script clunky and the runtime slightly overlong, the film’s impressive in-ring sequences (driven by inspired casting) and commitment to honoring the history and craft of wrestling make it a winning (if cliche-ridden) bout.
Starring Emily Bett Rickards, Queen of the Ring tells the true story of women’s wrestling pioneer Mildred Burke, who juggled an in-ring career with single motherhood in a time when all-female wrestling was banned in most of the United States. Though it’s a shared passion and whirlwind romance with promoter Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas) that gets Mildred into the world of wrestling, their relationship quickly turns sour, and her husband becomes a lifelong anchor in her pursuit of gender equity in wrestling.
For its first hour, Queen of the Ring runs the ropes of a standard historical biopic — Mildred (“Millie,” to her friends) is a plucky young waitress who falls instantly and enthusiastically in love with the art of wrestling at first sight. Rickards plays young Millie with an endearing (if heavy-handed) earnestness that’s chipped away through the years as she becomes more hardened to the business of the sport (and the man) she loves.
But while Billy Wolfe all but gives up on Millie halfway through the film, Burke finds a new family in the arms of the other female wrestlers in Wolfe’s “Wolfe Pack” wrestling promotion: Mae Young (Francesca Eastwood), Elvira Snodgrass (Marie Avgeropoulos), Gladys Gillem (Deborah Ann Woll), and Babs Wingo (Damaris Lewis). Though many of the relationships may have begun rocky, it’s Mildred’s bonds with her fellow female wrestlers that drive both the film and her passion to continue her own fight for equality.
Woll paints the uber-sweet and uber-violent Gladys Gilem with shades of her similarly green behind the ears True Blood character Jessica Hamby, but it’s Francesca Eastwood as the flirty, unapologetically lesbian Mae Young who often ends up stealing the ensemble scenes — there’s a flinty strength beneath her snarky exterior that makes Eastwood a frequent scene-stealer.
Admittedly, though, Queen of the Ring’s cast is so large that it’s at times difficult to keep characters straight. The film makes an admirable commitment to populating its world with as many real-life historical wrestling figures as possible, but in its rush to do so ends up feeling bloated and unfocused, especially as a Burke biopic. Martin Kove’s Al Haft, Adam Demos’s Gorgeous George, and Walton Goggins’s Jack Pfefer all fall into this category, though the sequence of Goggins coaching a pair of new wrestlers through cutting a promo is one of the film’s strongest.
There’s also the element of Mildred’s relationship with her stepson “G. Bill” Wolfe (Tyler Posey) — though they meet through Millie’s marriage to G. Bill’s father Billy, the film dedicates an ample chunk of time to monitoring G Bill’s crush on Mildred, which is eventually reciprocated when Billy and Mildred call it quits. It’s a strange, messy dynamic that complicates an already bloated narrative, and Posey’s performance doesn’t quite carry the nuance to sell such a peculiar subplot.
But while elements of the personal melodrama may not be elegantly executed, one of the most compelling elements of Queen of the Ring is the film’s ensemble casting. Active professional wrestlers Toni Rossall, Trinity Fatu, Britt Baker, and Kailey Farmer all star in the film to fill out the Wolfe Pack’s roster and lend Queen of the Ring’s in-ring sequences an element of undeniable legitimacy and craft that can only come from experienced pro wrestlers.
The casting of Rossall, Fatu, Baker, and Farmer also adds a metatextual element to Mildred Burke’s impassioned fight for women in wrestling. Not only do they exemplify the fruits of her labor, but they continue to fight the same battles, even in modern promotions like WWE and AEW. Former wrestling booker and promoter Jim Cornette similarly appears in the film’s final moments as an NWA Commissioner, though Avildsen keeps his role confined squarely to the realm of “cameo.”
Admittedly, though, the roles for Rossall and Fatu in particular are frustratingly sparse, especially considering how much the film emphasizes the importance of promo work in the wrestling industry, one would hope the women would get a chance to show off their sizable acting chops instead of relegating the larger speaking roles to the traditional actresses.
Abundant with wrestling lingo, historical details, and familiar names and faces, Queen of the Ring is a passionate if inelegant ode to Mildred Burke and the many incredible women she squared off with in the ring. Though the film’s script is predictable and the characters broad, Queen of the Ring’s hard-hitting in-ring scenes and abundance of historical detail make it a loving homage to a misunderstood art.
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Grade: B-
Queen of the Ring
The story of Mildred Burke, a waitress who attended her first wrestling match and became the longest reigning champion of female wrestling. She fought and beat male wrestlers, and walked the fine line between beauty and brawler.
Release Date: March 7, 2025
Director: Ash Avildsen
Cast: Emily Bett Rickards , Josh Lucas , Walton Goggins
