Queen Of The Ring

I was not able to watch Queen of the Ring locally in theatres as the closest place it was screening was near 2 hours aways, and I just couldn't make it work to go.  Much like The Iron Claw I really wanted to check this one out on the big screen.

A couple weeks back it hit streaming so earlier this week I took the time to watch the movie.  I have to say over all, I really enjoyed it.  The image of the poster above whenever I saw it I kept thinking it was Cobie Smulders, even though I knew it wasn't.  The actress that plays Mildred Burke is Emily Bett Rickards and as I'm watching the movie I recognize her but can't place it, felt like a fool when I looked it up and saw that she played Felicity Smoak in the Arrowverse on the CW.

The film is based  inspired by the 2010 book "The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend" by Jeff Leen which I own but haven't read in year.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie, the wrestling was acceptable, the story was great, and the cinematography was tremendous.  Much like The Iron Claw, you can enjoy this movie even if you are not a wrestling fan.

While I am not subject matter expert in the the timeline of women's wrestling from the 1940's & 1950's I picked up a few historical inaccuracies in the film, but that's typical for the Hollywood creative license.

For instance:

In the movie we meet Jeanette Boyer who takes the stage name of Gladys Killem Gillem in the movie. Her character dies after a rough match with June Byers.

Jeanette Boyer was lady wrestler, who was the foster daughter of Billy Wolfe, she took the ring name of Janet Wolfe and tragically passed away at the age of 18. She wrestled Ella Waldeck on a matinee show and then competed later that evening in a tag team match, shortly into the match she lost consciousness and died from a brain hemorrhage a few hours later at the hospital. A hard body slam by Ella Waldek in her first match of the day has been attributed to her death, however a blood clot had most like formed a week earlier.  

Gladys "Killem" Gillem wrestled from 1942 - 1962

Killem Gillem

Several current and past wrestlers and wrestling personalities are in the movie, some in larger roles than others. 

Toni Storm as Clara Mortensen

Kailey Latimer aka Kamille as June Byers

James E. Cornette as NWA Commissioner

Trinity Fatu aka Naomi as Ethel Johnson

Britt Baker as Debbie Nichols

Mickie James as Fabulous Moolah 

Kamille has the largest role in the movie of all the wrestlers that appeared.  Mickie and Britt are in blink and you missed it cameo's essentially.  There is a documentary that came out a couple years ago about Ethel Johnson called Lady Wrestler and that is worth your time.  Also the 2004 documentary Lipstick and Dynamite: The First Ladies of Wrestling is an excellent look at early women's wrestling.

I would also recommend the autobiography of Penny Banner Banner Days as another excellent look at women's wrestling in the 1950's & 1960's.  

 

I'm going to re-read Mildred's book and read June Byers book before I watch this film again.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

My Results January 12, 2025 to April 26, 2025

January 12, 2025

Limitless Wrestling Morgan Hill Event Center Herman, ME

Aaron Rourke & Alec Price defeated Swipe Right: Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes

Mark Sterling pinned Milo Mirra

Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella pinned Seabass Finn

Street Fight: Ace Romero & Alexander Lee defeated Aiden Aggro & J-Heru

Triple Threat: Gabby Forza defeated Paris Van Dale with Aaron Ortiz and B3CCA pinning Paris

John Walters pinned Anthony Greene

Limitless World Champion: Dezmond Cole pinned Matt Cardona

This was the second Limitless event that Billie Starkz was book for and had to cancel, maybe someday.

January 18, 2025

Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME

Aaron Rourke pinned Blake Christian

Aiden Aggro with J-Heru pinned Anthony Greene

Gabby Forza pinnes Tiara James

Swipe Right: Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes with Ms. Susanna defeated Milo Mirra & Jermaine Marbury with Benny The Basketball

Last Sister Standing: Delmi Exo defeated Ashley Vox

Alec Price pinned Zak Patterson

1 Called Mander defeated TJ Crawford

Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella pinned Limitless World Champion: Dezmond Cole to win the championship 

February 22, 2025

Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME

Alec Price pinned Eli Knight

Fatal Four Way: Conan Lycan defeated BRG, Gabriel Skye & TJ Crawford

Zak Patterson pinned Mortar

Aaron Rourke & Gabby Forza defeated Aiden Aggro with J-Heru & Limitless World Champion: Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella

Maggie Lee defeated B3CCA with Aaron Ortiz & Anthony Vecchio by disqualification

Swipe Right: Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes defeated Acre Romero & JT Dunn pinning Dunn

Donovan Dijak pinned Calvin Tankman

March 14, 2025

RINGWARS The Community Center Fairfield, ME

Zane Valentine pinned JP O’Reilly

Eric Johnson pinned Ghost with Drake Lovecraft

Alexander Lee & Joey Nails defeated Lee Miller & Samuel Radcliffe

The Competition: Hazard & Mark Moment defeated The Strong Brothers: Matt & Nick

Kris Rex pinned Allen Prophet

Jason Maverick pinned J-Heru

March 21, 2025

Limitless Wrestling Brick South Portland, ME

Pre-Show: Jada Stone pinned Ella Envy

Conan Lycan pinned Zak Patterson

Aiden Aggro with J-Heru defeated Alec Price

Gabby Forza defeated B3CCA with Aaron Ortiz & Anthony Vecchio by disqualification

Swipe Right: Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes with Ms. Susanna defeated The High Flying Star Machines: Bojack & Diego Hill

Portland Street Fight: Ace Romero pinned Dirty Dango with Brian Black

Aaron Rourke pinned Anthony Greene

Bissell Brother Battle Royal: Milo Mirra defeats Alexander Lee, Ashley Vox, Bear Bronson, BK Westbrook,  Cousin Larry, Dave Dyer, Dunky Boy Bandit, Hazard, J-Heru, Jason Maverick, Jose Zamora, Kalvin Strange, LJ Cleary, Paris Van Dale, Perry Von Vicious, Seabass Finn, Spike Nishimura and Troy Nelson last eliminating Hazard to win the match

Limitless World Champion: Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella, J-Heru, Aiden Aggro, & Anthony Greene pinned Donovan Dijak

April 17, 2025 MGM Music Hall at Fenway Boston, MA

Ring of Honor Tapings

Episode 114 Aired May 01, 2025

The Frat House: Cole Karter & Griff Garrison with Jacked Jameson & Preston Vance defeated Spanish Announce Project: Serpentico & Angelico when Garrison pinned Serpentico

Episode 113 Aired April 24, 2025

8 Man Tag: AR Fox, Mark Briscoe, and Top Flight; Dante & Darius Martin with Leila Grey defeated Shane Taylor Promotions: Charlie Bravo, ROH Pure Champion: Lee Moriarty, Shane Taylor & Shawn Dean

Collision - Live on TNT Spring BreakThru

Kevin Knight pinned Lance Archer with Don Callis

Don Callis Family: Josh Alexander & NEVER Openweight Champion: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Rocky Romero & Tomohiro Ishii when Romero turned on Ishii

Two on One: Megan Bayne with Penelope Ford defeated Ashley Vox & Rebecca Scott pinning both

TNT Champion: Adam Cole pinned Claudio Castagnoli

Trios Match: La Faccion Ingobernable: Rush, Dralistico, & The Beast Mortos defeated KM, LSG, & Rosario Grillo pinning KM

Nick Wayne pinned ROH World Television Champion: Komander with Alex Abrahantes to win the Championship

Julia Hart & Kris Statlander defeated Harley Cameron and TBS Champion, NJPW Strong Women’s Champion, and REVPro Undisputed British Women’s Champion: Mercedes Mone when Statlander pinned Cameron

April 26, 2025

Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME

Conan Lycan pinned Alec Price

Miro Mirra pinned J-Heru with Aiden Aggro

Gabby Forza pinned Aiden Aggro with J-Heru

Maggie Lee pinned Brooke Havok

Swipe Right: Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes with Ms. Susanna defeated The Mane Event: Jay Lyon & Midas Black pinning Midas

Bear Bronson pinned Anthony Greene

Seabass Finn fought Joe Zamora to a no contest when Hazard attacked both competitors

Limitless World Champion: Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella pinned Aaron Rourke

My upcoming shows:

May 17 Limitless Wrestling, Westbrook

May 30 Ring Wars 4, Fairfield

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

AEW Collision: April 17, 2025 BOSTON

After a wonderful weekend of watching professional wrestling I finally find myself with the time to write about attending AEW Collision at the MGM Music Hall Fenway in Boston, Massachusetts.

When AEW announced the double shows, Dynamite on the 16th and Collision on the 17th I was tempted to go to both, but Boston is a long drive and it's not feasible, plus work.  Ultimately I wanted to go to Collision on Thursday as I had never been to Collision before but have been to Dynamite numerous times before.  I thought it was going to be a taped Collision as it airs on Saturdays, and it would be perfect to watch it live as it's normal time slot conflicts with WrestleMania 41 Saturday, however leading up the event it was announced that it would air live on Thursday.

When tickets went on sale after looking over what was available on the presale I chose the Mezzanine box seats as the price point was the same as the front row of the mezzanine seating behind the boxes and the pictures looked good.  And boy where they ever!  More on that later.

I left the house at noon and picked up Mikey at his place, first stop was The Brook, the casino in Seabrook, NH he has a free slot play and Mikey likes to spin the reels.  After a quick pay window trip for him we drove to Encore just outside Boston where he had another free slot play, I wasted $20 myself at this stop.  However the main focus for me is that they have a Shake Shack and I love me a shack burger!  We don't have them in Maine.

I had prepaid for parking a couple months back on the Park whiz app, $25, parking at the same lot that night was $65 so if you ever go to Boston and you know in advance buy parking as far ahead of time as you can.  It was a short walk over to the MGM Music Hall at Fenway which we got in line about 6pm.

MGM Music Hall at Fenway opened in August 2022 and features the main floor and two elevates seating areas that can hold 5009 people for concerts.  My daughter and I attended Mitski in concert at this venue in February 2024.  

Doors opened at 630pm and we headed to our seats, this is when we found out that our box seats had a special entrance where you had to show your ticket to get a wrist band, had a private bar with lounge area and bathrooms and our seats had table service.  There were 4 seats in the boxes and can move around and are quite comfortable.  

As you can see from the images we had an amazing view and I would not hesitate to sit here again for any show at this venue in the future.

Before the live Collision, we had two Ring of Honor matches, then 7 matches on Collision and no post live show matches.  I was really hoping for an FTR match because they typically on wrestle on Collision and they are my favorite tag team, but alas they were on a "one week suspension" for their actions on the last episode of Collision. 

Ring of Honor Taping:

The Frat House: Griff Garrison & Cole Carter with Preston Vance and Jacked Jameson defeated the Spanish Announce Project: Serpentico and Angelico

8 Man Tag: Mark Briscoe, AR Fox, and Top Flight: Darius & Dante Martin with Leila Gray defeated Shane Taylor Promotions: Shane Taylor, ROH Pure Champion: Lee Moriarty, and The Infantry: Sean Dean & Charlie Bravo 

AEW Collision Live

Kevin Knight pinned Lance Archer with Don Callis

NEVER Openweight Champion: Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander defeated Tomohiro Ishii and Rocky Romero when Romero turned on Ishii 

Post match: Trent made his return, he and Rocky joined the Don Callis Family and attacked Ishii with a wrench

2 on 1 Handicap Match: Megan Bayne with Penelope Ford defeated Ashley Vox and Rebecca Scott pinning both at once

Open Challenge: TNT Champion: Adam Cole pinned Claudio Castagnoli

La Faccion Ingobernable: Rush, Dralistico, & The Beast Mortos defeated Kevin Mathews, LSG, & Rosario Grillo

Nick Wayne pinned ROH World Television Champion: Komander with Alex Abrahantes to win the Championship

Kris Statlander & Julia Hart defeated TBS Champion, New Japan Strong Women's Champion, and RevPro Undisputed British Women's Champion: Mercedes Mone and Harley Cameron with Statlander pinned Cameron

Post show Mercedes Mone cut a promo about being in Boston.  Harley Cameron then bought out her pupped Mini Mone and entertained the crowd. No Tony Khan appearance tonight at all.

After the show I bought an AEW Collision logo shirt and enamel pin at the merchandise table.  I don't need a new t-shirt but I just really like the simple design.  We hit the road after stopping at the 7-11 in Saugus, MA for a big gulp and stopped again at the Circle K in Kittery, ME to fuel up and grab a monster peach tea.  I got home just before 2am, another successful wrestling adventure. 

I have no regrets going on Thursday and not Wednesday, even though Wednesday had Osprey vs. Takeshita.  We got some great wrestling matches, and a title change when Nick Wayne won his first major singles championship.

In the tag team match, Ishii and Takeshita squared off, and during a shoulder tackle I have never heard two people slam into each other that hard and no sell it that I can think of.  Smack from the impact was wild!!!

I can't imagine I'll see AEW live again this year, but rumor has it that ROH Final Battle will be Massachusetts this December.  I've also heard rumors of TNA running Bound For Glory in Lowell, MA in October, and WWE running John Cena's Last Match December 27th at TD Garden in Boston with a PLE called Ruthless Aggression.  

Some potential cools shows at the end of the year. 

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!