AEW Is Going To Court Again... (AEW News)
AEW is suing Ring Productions over late payments of Queen of the Ring sponsorship.
AEW is suing Ring Productions, the production company behind Queen of the Ring.
Per POST Wrestling, AEW alleges that they are still due over $105,000 of sponsorship fees by Ring Productions LLC. A deal was signed in January 2025 that would see Queen of the Ring sponsor certain AEW matches, members of the movie's cast would be shown at ringside, the film's trailer would be played in arenas, and AEW talent would promote Queen of the Ring on their social media platforms.
Ring Productions is said to have paid $250,000 by 23rd May, 2025, and it's alleged that the company failed to meet a 28th February, 2026 deadline to pay the rest of the agreed total. The lawsuit alleges that Ring Productions still owes AEW $100,000 in sponsorship fees and more than $5,000 in contractual talent expenses. AEW is also looking for 1.5% monthly interest on the late payments, as is defined in the contract, and the lawsuit has been filed in Duval County, Florida.
This sponsorship agreement includes a clause that calls for any legal disputes to be resolved through arbitration, which mirrors AEW talent contracts and is in line with the company's preference for handling such matters confidentially rather than through public courts. From this filing, AEW contacted Ring Productions four times by email between September 2025 and December 2025, and those emails went unanswered, leading to AEW's outside counsel - Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart - to get involved. The firm sent a formal notice to Ring Productions on 24th March, 2026 to give them seven days' notice to pay the outstanding amount. Ring Productions COO Paul Leighton acknowledged that $105,262.51 was owed, but there was no further communication.
For those not familiar with Queen of the Ring, that movie is the story of the legendary Mildred Burke, as played by Arrow's Emily Bett Rickards. Amongst the cast are several familiar AEW faces, with Kamille playing June Byers, Toni Storm as Clara Mortensen, and Britt Baker as Debbie Nichols. Despite being a very decent picture, Queen of the Ring was unfortunately a box office flop, taking home roughly $650,000 from a budget in the region of $7.5 million.
This is the latest lawsuit involving AEW, following the company suing TrillerTV for $5 million in unpaid revenue, and the ongoing case brought by Ryan Nemeth against AEW, Tony Khan, and CM Punk, alleging abuse and harassment.