Queen of the Ring

Emily Bett Rickards brings the Smoak to this melodramatic wrestling biopic.

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I’m not a huge professional wrestling fan (though, I preferred watching it on Sunday mornings as opposed to going to church as a child), but I like a good underdog story and “Queen of the Ring” (now playing in select theaters) certainly fits the bill.

The film tells the true-life story of the first million-dollar female athlete Mildred Burke, née Bliss (Emily Bett Rickards, best known as Felicity Smoak from The CW’s Arrowverse). Mildred is a young single mother working in a 1930s Kansas greasy spoon alongside her Mom Bertha (Cara Buono, “Stranger Things”), but she has ambitions to do more with her life. Inspiration strikes when Mildred attends a wrestling match between Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas) and Gorgeous George (Adam Demos) alongside Bertha.

Mildred has aspirations of becoming a professional wrestler and she wants Billy to train her – a big ask as he thinks there’s no market for women’s wrestling and woman-on-woman wrestling is illegal in most states. He gives her a trial match against a male grappler, she impresses (and wins) and he agrees to train her. Soon thereafter they’re on the carnival circuit doing demonstrations during which Mildred’s (successfully) wrestling men for money.

Mildred builds a reputation for herself and is soon inspiring other women to follow her lead among them Mae Young (Francesca Eastwood, daughter of Clint Eastwood and actress Frances Fisher), Elvira Snodgrass (Marie Avgeropoulos), Gladys Gillem (Deborah Ann Woll, having a busy week between this and “Daredevil: Born Again”), Nell Stewart (Kelli Berglund, an old hand at this rasslin’ stuff as she appeared on Starz’“Heels”) and Babs Wingo (Damaris Lewis).

Billy sees success with his stable of lady wrestlers, but complications soon arise. He treats his roster as a dating pool despite having personal and professional obligations to Mildred. Mildred in turn develops feelings for Billy’s grown son G. Bill (Tyler Posey of MTV’s “Teen Wolf”), feelings that are reciprocated.

“Queen of the Ring” is directed by Ash Avildsen (founder of Sumerian Records and son of “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid” director John G. Avildsen) and scripted by Avildsen and former political speechwriter Alston Ramsay (he wrote for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and General David Petraeus) in an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeff Leen’s 2009 book “The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds and the Making of an American Legend.” It chronicles the 20 years from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s during which Mildred was dominant in her field and held the National Wrestling Alliance Women’s World Championship. We see Mildred earn her first title against Clara Mortensen (All Elite Wrestling wrestler Toni Storm aka Toni Rossall) and later defend it against June Byers (fellow AEW staple Kamille aka Kailey Farmer).

Rickards and Lucas are the best reasons to see “Queen of the Ring.” Her Mildred’s as likable as his Billy is deplorable, but both give really good performances. He’s not in the movie much, but Walton Goggins turns up in a rare good guy role and does unsurprisingly solid work as rival promoter Jack Pfefer, who comes to Mildred’s aid when trouble rears its ugly head with Billy.

“Queen of the Ring” is melodramatic as all get out, but it’s well-performed and almost always engaging. Wrestling fans especially should leave satisfied and there are certainly worse things you could be watching during Women’s History Month.