Teddy Long, former WWE and WCW personality, has placed the blame for the collapse of Southwest Wrestling Entertainment (SWE) squarely on Lacey Von Erich. Speaking candidly on the Road Trip After Hours podcast, Long—who previously served as SWE’s creative director—described a turbulent behind-the-scenes environment and alleged that Von Erich’s sudden rise to power led to the promotion’s downfall.
According to Long, Von Erich—daughter of wrestling legend Kerry Von Erich—allegedly manipulated her way into control of the company, taking advantage of SWE’s then-owner Tom Lance.
“Lacey Von Erich destroyed SWE. She had no money to even buy SWE,” Long claimed. “The guy that was running SWE… he’s an older guy, so he’s kind of in love with the younger girl. So Lacey was smart. She knew how to use what she had. She came in and started prancing around and, you know, showing this and that, and the next thing I know, here comes Tom Lance. ‘Oh, well, Lacey is going to be our brand new president.’”
What frustrated Long most was the lack of transparency surrounding the leadership change and the disregard for SWE’s roster and staff:
“Do you have a meeting? Do you sit down? Do you talk to the talent? Do you tell anybody what’s going on? Just out of the blue, she’s the president of the company. To me, it was certainly just really disrespectful. So that was the night I walked out.”
That moment marked a turning point. Long said he went to the locker room and announced his departure—and several members of the talent roster followed him out in solidarity.
Prior to the chaos, Long noted that SWE was thriving under his creative leadership. He claimed the promotion went from struggling to sell tickets to drawing well over a thousand fans in a matter of months:
“When I went over there, they were drawing maybe 30 or 50 people. I stayed there for three months in charge of creative and running the show. In three months’ time, we were up to 1,500 people. Then we started really going after I put some stories in there and we were selling out.”
The downfall, in Long’s view, was a case of mismanagement and misplaced trust. SWE would eventually rebrand as Texas Style Wrestling, but the damage was already done.
Still, Long offered a glimmer of hope for the future of wrestling in the region. He referenced recent conversations with Randy Klein, a promoter tied to both SWE and its successor:
“I had a chance to talk to Randy Klein. He was one of the promoters of SWE… but Randy didn’t worry about it. Randy put it in the hands of other people and thought that they were going to do the right thing. Well, they didn’t do the right thing. They screwed up all the money. But I think they’re getting back on board now. They’re running now in Texas, but I think they’re going to get a big TV deal, and they’re going to try to get this thing back to going.”
While the collapse of SWE is still a sore point for Long, his belief in the potential of Texas-style wrestling remains strong.
