Last 12 months, the story of Mildred Burke hit the silver screen. “Queen of the Ring” featured AEW’s Toni Storm, Britt Baker, and Kamille. AEW helped to advertise the film with sponsored matches, airing the trailer in the world, and having a number of the stars ringside. Now, as reported by POST Wrestling, AEW is suing the production company behind the film for unpaid sponsorship fees for promoting “Queen of the Ring.”
Ring Productions, LLC paid $205,000 by May 2025, but AEW alleges they didn’t pay the remaining $100,000. In addition they owe $5,000 in contractual talent travel expenses. As defined by their contract, AEW can be looking for 1.5% in monthly rates of interest on the late payments. After sending 4 emails between September and December 2025, AEW’s attorneys got involved in March 2026. A lawsuit was filed on June 26 and alleges that Ring Productions COO Paul Leighton acknowledged that he knew the corporate owed $105,262.51.
Ring Productions has not filed a response as of this writing and has yet to be formally served. They’ll have 20 days to reply once they’ve been served.
“Queen of the Ring” was only in box offices for a brief period and grossed only $657,718. The film also features WWE Superstar Naomi together with Jim Cornette. Jim Ross was an executive producer for the film. One memorable promotion moment got here when actress Damaris Lewis, who played Babs Wingo, said before the Revolution predominant event that she learned wrestling matches are pre-determined. Many AEW wrestlers akin to Mercedes Moné, Harley Cameron, and Christopher Daniels attended the film’s premiere and talent promoted the film on their social media accounts.