It isn’t uncommon lately to see feminine wrestlers headline WrestleMania, turn into the largest stars in promotions world wide, or enter the dialog of the best of all time. A variety of that has to do with Mildred Burke, the central determine of Queen of the Ring, an empowering biographical drama telling the trailblazer’s story from the carny days to her changing into the primary feminine million-dollar athlete. And one of many movie’s stars, Tyler Posey, is honored to have the ability to inform that story.
I sat down with Posey forward of Queen of the Ring hitting the 2025 film schedule (throughout Worldwide Girls’s Month), and we had a fascinating dialog the place we talked about the whole lot from working with well-known wrestling personalities like Jim Cornette to filming among the movie’s numerous matches. However top-of-the-line elements of the chat got here once I requested if the actor, who performed George William “G. Invoice” Wolfe, if ever felt he and the forged in Ash Avildsen’s film had been uncovering some type of forgotten historical past:
Actually, the entire complete time. Particularly being there with G. Invoice and Mildred and Billy [Wolfe] – the carny days. It felt like this arc that everyone had coming from nothing to changing into the primary [female] million greenback athlete. The entire complete time we had been filming, I used to be similar to, ‘How has this not been completed but?’ It is such an unbelievable story in such a extremely pivotal a part of historical past. … This factor is so pivotal and empowering for girls and for anyone who has a dream to actually simply go for it.
The film is ready in a time when girls’s skilled wrestling was unlawful in a lot of the nation and follows Mildred Burke, performed masterfully by Arrow alum Emily Bett Rickards, as she legitimizes the game and takes it to new heights. Based mostly on Jeff Leen’s 2009 e-book The Queen of the Ring: Intercourse, Muscle groups, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend, the film paperwork the rise of not solely Burke’s profession, but additionally that {of professional} wrestling within the rise of the territorial system.
Earlier than making the film, Posey admitted that he didn’t know a lot about Burke’s story, however after going via all of it, the Teen Wolf alum mentioned it was an enormous a part of historical past that must be celebrated extra:
Studying the script, it nearly looks as if a faux, made-up story as a result of it is so intense and so poignant. I used to be like, ‘How do extra folks not find out about this story?’ I am honored that we get to leak it to the world and present you, ‘Hey, this can be a large a part of historical past that you simply guys must know.’
And Queen of the Ring does do an awesome job of showcasing that historical past and sharing Mildred Burke’s story with wrestling followers and common audiences in a significant and entertaining method. Talking of leisure, the film has among the most bodily matches I’ve seen within the finest wrestling films. With the likes of impactful feminine wrestlers like Naomi, Toni Storm, Britt Baker, and Kamille, the in-ring motion seems plausible, even when actors with no prior wrestling expertise enter the squared circle.
Queen of the Ring is at the moment in theaters. In case you’re searching for an empowering film about one girl’s quest to make a reputation for herself and switch girls’s wrestling right into a marquee occasion, that is your alternative.