Do you know who Mildred Burke is? If you’re a fan of modern wrestling, you really should. People like Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah get a lot of the credit for women’s wrestling, but Mildred Burke comes before they do. She was the first million-dollar woman athlete in history and they decided to make a biopic of her in Queen of the Ring. The movie comes from Ash Avildsen, who directed and wrote the film. It’s based on the book The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend. It stars Emily Bett Rickards as Burke in what can only be described as a breakout performance. Burke was a trailblazer in the history of wrestling, coming out with performances rivaling the men in a time when women weren’t even considered in the pro wrestling sphere.

Her story starts off in Kansas as an unwed teenage mother working as a waitress in her mother’s diner. Her mom (Cara Buono) keeps her wing, but Millie dreams of bigger things. She’s muscular for her age, and that quickly brings her to the world of professional wrestling. A promoter comes through town with his traveling wrestling show. Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas) is impressed by Millie immediately after requesting a match with one of his male wrestlers. She conquers the man and makes Wolfe into a believer. She goes on tour with his show and ends up beating man after man throughout.

Billy and her fall in love along the way and get married. Like most of the stories from that age of wrestling, the relationship goes south when Billy starts cheating with the other female wrestlers. They agree to stay married for the sake of business, but here’s the kicker and one of the big narrative spots that makes Queen of the Ring so fascinating, she ends up with Billy’s son G. Bill (Tyler Posey).

It’s things like this and more that make Queen of the Ring into more than just a pro wrestling movie. The wrestling is there to get fans into the theater. But it’s the drama, the romance, and the human element that elevate this past the point of a simple biopic. Mildred’s story is one that anyone can relate to, especially women who feel like they’re marginalized in what they do. She rose above the constraints of an abusive relationship and getting held down at every stop to become one of the most important women in sports history.

Queen of the Ring movie.

More and more performers are added to the proceedings as we follow along with Burke’s life including May Young (Francesca Eastwood), Elvira Snodgrass (Marie Avgeropoulos), June Byers (real-life wrestler Kamille, AKA Kailey Farmer), Clara Mortensen (real-life wrestler Toni Storm) Nell Stewart (Kelli Berglund, also played a wrestler in Heels), Gladys Gillem (Deborah Ann Woll), Debbie Nichols (real-life wrestler Britt Baker), Ethel Johnson (real-life wrestler Naomi), and Babs Wingo (Damaris Lewis).

This all adds to one of the big issues that the film has. Each section feels less like a coherent storyline and more like episodic content that’s stitched together. It also brings in a lot of characters for each section, so it’s a lot to keep track of in addition to the business side, the drama, love interests, and everything else. The film also glosses over the more abusive segments of her relationship with Billy. The book goes into more detail about this, but the movie is already two hours long and feels longer than that.

The real highlight of the film though is Rickards’ performance in the ring. The wrestling sequences are the biggest and best reason to watch the film. Rickards demonstrates a ferocity in the action that you don’t see from many performers in the ring as professional wrestlers. Surprisingly, none of the major pro wrestling companies haven’t brought her in for any sort of spot because of the film.

As it goes on we get appearances from Walton Goggins, Martin Kove, Adam Demos, and Gavin Casalengo. For wrestling fans there’s also an appearance from Jim Cornette. The film with some of its episodic feeling issues, still provides an excellent look into a forgotten piece of wrestling history with Mildred Burke. Emily Bett Rickards is exquisite as Burke, giving an energy that carries through the entire film. She handles the role, giving it her all. It’s an early candidate for best performance of the year.

This is a must-see for fans of wrestling or those who want to learn about the early goings of female athletes in the United States.

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