What do you know about women’s wrestling? Personally, if you asked me this I would have to simply answer: nothing. Nothing but the story of Mildred “Millie” Burke (Emily Bett Rickards), professional women’s wrestler. Millie, born in a small Midwestern town to a single mother, opens the door of the male-dominated sport to women after taking the championship and becoming the first woman athlete to become a millionaire.
After convincing pro-wrestler and promoter Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas) to take her on as a trainee, the two travel around the country with their carnival act “the Kansas Cyclone.” Between falling in love and taking down egotistical men in the ring, Millie slowly begins to build her empire that will bring women from all parts of the globe to the sport. Soon, despite the strict laws against two women wrestling each other in several states, Millie finds herself in the ring for the first time with June Byers (Kailey Farmer).
Throughout the first few decades of her career — when she was still tied to Wolfe — Millie learned the ins and outs of wrestling. As Wolfe describes to her, wrestling is about storytelling and creating a narrative. During multiple scenes we get an insight into how this narrative is crafted, as Wolfe encourages wrestlers to lean into stereotypes, anger and disagreements to get the audience invested. In fact, professional matches are often decided before the wrestlers arrive on the mat. It is at this point in time when wrestling begins to become theatrical and emotional — traits that still exist in the sport today.
However, regardless of his teaching and short relationship with Millie, Wolfe is truly a “big bad” of this film. From cheating to domestic abuse to manipulation, Wolfe fails as a man constantly throughout this film, as he did in real life. Due to the politics and social expectations of the ’40s, Millie and Wolfe end up getting married so Millie can protect her empire, her income and her sport. While many moments of this film are deeply emotional and powerful, the quiet ones of Millie forced to navigate a society that will take away what she loves because of a hateful and deceitful man, linger for a long time.
Some may conclude that Millie was simply born in the wrong time and that society was not ready for such a powerhouse of a woman wrestler. The truth is, Millie made waves for women all over the world. What began as one-on-one training sessions between Millie and Wolfe eventually led to more women joining the ring with the carnival and finally the formal creation of the women’s wrestling league and championship belt. Without Millie, perhaps women’s wrestling and the expectations of what a woman could do would still be far behind where we are in 2025. “Queen of the Ring” displays Millie as a force in the world, one who will shake up the norm for the better.
However, despite the powerful narrative, one of the biggest pitfalls of this film is how it underestimates its audience. Despite being more than two hours, the film must actively spoon-feed important information, from full names to character motivations and goals, at every turn. Most female wrestlers are introduced as “a badass who wants to fight,” but we fail to learn anything more. What drew Mae Young to wrestling and Millie? How did World War II impact the women wrestlers’ lives on and off the mat? How have the women (Mae Young, Elvira Snodgrass, Gladys Gillem, Nell Stewart) formed such deep bonds with each other despite what happens on the mat?
Additionally, while an emotional sports film, the fight choreography — a vital part of the narrative — is often poorly cut around, creating a jarring atmosphere that makes it difficult to invest in the wrestlers. Although the two matches we do get to see of Millie vs. June are riveting, most of this sports biopic misses the mark on showcasing the true power these women hold on the mat. Many of the compelling matches are done with the actresses Rickards and Farmer in the ring, the former being an American professional wrestler and National Wrestling Alliance World Women’s Champion.
“Queen of the Ring,” with its poor accent work, stiff dialogue and surface-level narrative should not be as engrossing as it is. Much like professional wrestling itself, the theatricality of the good versus bad guys, underdog women and dedication to the sport and companionship is easy to sink your teeth into. Maybe the narrative of wrestling has been doing its job right for the last 90 years. Or maybe Mildred Burke simply deserves the attention and appreciation for tearing down barriers for all women athletes to come after.
