by Charles Kirkland, Jr.
A small town, single mother is obsessed with fulfilling her destiny as the best woman professional wrestler, even though there is no such thing in Queen of the Ring.
Mildred Burke is struggling as a waitress at her mother’s small-town diner. When the carnival comes into town, she gets the opportunity to watch some professional wrestlers perform, and it changes her life. She automatically knows that being a professional wrestler is her destiny. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a female professional wrestler. Women wrestlers are outlawed in many states across the country. When wrestling promoter Billy Wolfe comes into her diner, she convinces him to take her on and teach her the business. After a short time of training, Mildred is on her way to being a trailblazing icon in the wrestling world. Or so she thinks.
Queen of the Ring is written by Ash Avildsen and Alston Ramsay based on a book by Jeff Leen. Queen of the Ring stars Emily Bett Rickards, Josh Lucas, Tyler Posey, Walton Goggins, Francesca Eastwood, and Marie Avgeropoulos. The film is directed by Ash Avildsen.
Queen of the Ring exists on two planes. The first is an educational piece about the origin of female wrestling. The second plane is the geek-out factor for wrestling enthusiasts.
On the first level, the film does an adequate job of informing viewers about the existence of Mildred Burke and what she went through to become a successful woman professional wrestler. What the film does not do adequately enough is to stress the importance of Burke’s contributions to the world of wrestling and sports entertainment. The deepest the film gets is to cover how she influenced Gorgeous George. The flamboyance of George inspired many wrestlers to create in-ring personas. Even Muhammad Ali cites Gorgeous George as an inspiration for how he related to an audience. Mildred’s other contributions, other than her collaborations with other wannabe female wrestlers.
The film instead focuses more on the tumultuous relationship Burke had with her husband and partner, Billy Wolfe. The movie plays out more like a campy soap opera than a based-on-real-events retelling of the rise of arguably the greatest female shoot wrestler of all time. (The film does explain what shoot wrestling is.)
On the second plane, many wrestling fans will be excited to see Francesca Eastwood as Mae Young, a wrestler who took “bumps” well into her eighties, get her start and work with Burke. Many truly knowledgeable wrestling fans will recognize other groundbreaking women like June Byers, Elvira Snodgrass, and Gladys “Kill ‘Em” Gillem. The ultimate tribute to the sport is the inclusion of many of the modern-day wrestlers in the film. Toni Storm, The Brickhouse Kamille, Naomi, and Dr. Britt Baker all have cameo appearances in the movie, and some more than just a glimpse.
Essentially, Queen of the Ring serves as a primer for those who are uninitiated in the wrestling world. It gives people, especially those who look down on wrestling, the opportunity to understand what wrestling is about and why it is so entertaining.
Rated PG-13 for violence, including domestic violence, strong language, suggestive material, and smoking, Queen of the Ring is a mildly interesting look into the beginnings of female professional wrestling. The problem is that people who don’t like wrestling aren’t going to watch it, and it doesn’t have enough substance to engage those who deeply know about wrestling. The best it can do is to inspire those who do not know as much to research the characters seen in the movie.
Queen of the Ring can be seen in theaters starting March 7, 2025.
Grade: C-
