If you’ve never heard of Mildred Burke, that’s about to change. The excellent wrestling biopic Queen of the Ring stars Emily Bett Rickards as the first million-dollar female wrestler ever, and a world champion throughout the 1930s and 1950s. Directed by Ash Avildsen, the film also features many wrestlers from today including Kailey Latimer (aka AEW superstar Kamille) as June Byers and Trinity Fatu (aka WWE superstar Naomi) as Ethel Johnson. Meanwhile, actress Damaris Lewis got in the squared circle as Johnson’s sister and fellow trailblazer, Babs Wingo.
I had the opportunity to speak with Kailey, Damaris, and Trinity about Queen of the Ring. This one was a real treat for me as a huge wrestling fan, obviously. Without straying too far into their current careers, I couldn’t ignore Trinity who was selling the injuries her character suffered over the weekend at WWE Elimination Chamber. What a kayfabe trooper!!
Sticking to the movie itself, Trinity talked about the responsibility she felt playing Ethel Johnson, someone who opened the door to Black wrestlers like herself to become future world champions. We also talked about her acting debut in The Marine 5, and plans to continue acting.
Kailey spoke about playing June Byers and what it was like to portray a wrestling legend. Queen of the Ring being her first acting role, she described the process of getting the part, which turns out to be a major one in the film. She also described the differences between wrestling in the ring and wrestling for the screen.
Damaris also felt the weight of responsibility in playing Babs Wingo, someone who many didn’t realize at the time was Ethel Johnson’s sister. Learning to wrestle, taking bumps, was what Damaris had to learn and she talked about training under Doug Basham to get used to the physicality.
Queen of the Ring opens in theaters on March 7th, and it is definitely worth checking out. You can check out my review here and the interviews below!
