Emily Bett Rickards Trained Like a Real Wrestler for ‘Queen of the Ring’ Role

Emily Bett Rickards is stepping out of the shadows of Felicity Smoak and into the wrestling ring—literally. The Arrow star is taking on the legendary role of Mildred Burke in the new film Queen of the Ring, and she’s not just acting tough—she trained like a real wrestler to make it authentic.

In a recent interview with Popternative, Rickards opened up about the intense prep she went through to portray one of wrestling’s most groundbreaking pioneers. Before cameras even rolled, Rickards went through a serious transformation that included hitting the gym hard, ditching cardio, and living off protein-heavy meals.

“To put on that type of muscle, it was a lot of weight training, no cardio, lots of chicken breast, high protein, lots of sleep—that kind of thing,” she explained. “I had a team—Dr. Diego Bozzelli who’s a nutritionist trainer, as well as Thomas Taylor as a trainer. So I had a lot of people. I recommend if you’re going to do this, get someone to kind of help you along the way, because these people know a lot about what they do and it’s so important. I would not have been able to do that without them.”

Once she landed in Louisville, Kentucky, where the movie was filmed, the real test began. Rickards was thrown into training at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), a legendary spot in pro wrestling lore. With veterans like Al Snow and Doug Basham guiding her, she got a crash course in what it means to step into the ring.

“Then when I got to Louisville… I was thrown into OVW, which is iconic wrestling with Al Snow and Dougie Basham,” she said. “Then we had the pros—Toni Storm, Kamille Brickhouse, Trinity—and then all of the wrestlers at OVW sort of helped me learn how to not only run the ropes, but throw people properly to hit the mat, take the bumps correctly, you know, lock up correctly, grab a persona of who Mildred was.”

Rickards is surrounded by some serious wrestling talent in Queen of the Ring. AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm takes on the role of Clara Mortensen, Kamille plays June Byers, and Trinity is also in the mix. But Rickards more than held her own with the pros, learning how to physically and emotionally embody one of wrestling’s most legendary women.

This isn’t just another sports biopic. With real wrestlers on set and legit training behind the scenes, Queen of the Ring promises to deliver an authentic look at the world of women’s wrestling—one body slam at a time.