Mildred Burke

Early life Born Mildred Bliss on August 5, 1915, in Coffeyville, Kansas, at age 15 she dropped out of school and began to work as a waitress on the Zuni Indian Reservation in Gallup, New Mexico. She lived there for three years, before leaving for Kansas City after agreeing to marry her boyfriend. He took her to a professional wrestling event, which sparked her interest in the sport. Burke was pregnant at the time. Locally, Billy Wolfe was training aspiring women professional wrestlers. At first, Wolfe did not want to train Burke and instructed a male wrestler to body slam her, so she would stop asking Wolfe to train her. Burke, however, performed a body slam on the man instead, which resulted in Wolfe agreeing to train her. Wolfe tutored her and realized that she was the prospect for which he was waiting. The close proximity of their training resulted in a relationship and ultimately marriage. Changing her name to Mildred Burke, she defeated Clara Mortensen for the Women's World Championship in January 1937. thumb leftIn the 1930s, Burke wrestled over 200 men, but only lost to one of them. Wolfe had the support of the local commission, and he positioned a referee that was friendly to his goals into the match. Burke later admitted that she had given up the legitimate first fall with the intention of competing stronger in the second. Among her students were WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah, who she trained in the 1940s, and Canadian wrestler Rhonda Sing.

In 1974 she acted in the film Below the Belt, released in 1980, she appearing as a wrestling trainer under her own name.

Burke died from a stroke The NWA World Women's Championship is also referred to as "The Burke". In June 2023 filming began on Queen of the Ring, a biopic of Burke, based on Leen's book. The film was released on March 7, 2025. Canadian actress Emily Bett Rickards portrays Burke in the film.

Championships and accomplishments Independent Women's World Championship (2 times) Women's World Lightweight championship (2 times) International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2022 National Wrestling Alliance NWA World Women's Championship (1 time, inaugural) Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2002 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) WWE WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2016)