Injuries and WWE’s dictates led WWE stars Liv Morgan and Charlotte Flair to leave a biopic focused on women’s wrestling pioneer Mildred Burke in 2023. AEW’s Toni Storm and Kamille ended up joining the the Ash Avildsen-directed project instead, and promoted the film, which was released last year as Queen of the Ring.
AEW’s promotion included bringing the red-hot Timeless Toni Storm/Mariah May feud to Queen of the Ring’s red carpet premiere, and bringing some of Storm and Kamille’s castmates to its
shows — sometimes with mixed results, but publicity is publicity.
There were also Queen of the Ring sponsored matches, AEW talent talking up the flick on their social media accounts, and showing the trailer in arenas during Dynamite and Collision tapings, among other benefits.
A new report today (July 14, 2026) from Post Wrestling’s Brandon Thurston says AEW did that promotional work as part of a Jan. 2025 deal that called for Queen of the Ring’s producers Ring Productions LLC to pay Tony Khan’s company $350,000.
Unfortunately, the promotion didn’t lead to box office success. The film failed to chart and only lasted a few weeks in theaters. The money promised to AEW was more than half of what Queen of the Ring seems to have made; Box Office Mojo has its worldwide gross at $657,718.
Which probably explains why the producers are behind on the final payments to TK. But while it makes sense why they haven’t paid, a contract’s a contract. From Thurston’s piece for Post:
Although Ring Productions paid a total of $250,000 by May 23, 2025, it allegedly failed to meet a February 28 deadline to make the later half of that payment. According to the lawsuit, the company still owes a remaining $100,000 in sponsorship fees, plus over $5,000 in contractual talent travel expenses. AEW is also seeking interest on the late payments at a 1.5% monthly interest rate that’s defined in the contract. AEW attached the contract and a related amendment as exhibits to the lawsuit filed in Duval County, Florida.
Thurston also writes that the language of the AEW/Ring Productions contract is such that Khan could have taken it arbitration, so it’s not clear why it was filed in open court — especially as it seems guaranteed to generate speculation/jokes about AEW’s need for $100K. One explanation could be that the public filing calls attention to any others who haven’t been paid for work on or for Queen of the Ring, possibly including talent like Storm, Kamille, Britt Baker, Trinity “Naomi” Fatu, and Jim Cornette.
More on this to come, we imagine.
