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The inside story of the 2025 World Matchplay - Luke Littler's Triple Crown completion, Jonny Clayton's Hulk Hogan heartbreak and James Wade's fish & chip fury

The 2025 World Matchplay is in the history books and what an edition of the yearly Winter Gardens spectacle it was. Dartsnews.com was there, present in the press room, seeing all the action first hand.

Right from the opening night, drama was running rampant in Blackpool as the last two men to lift the Phil Taylor Trophy were dumped out in the opening round. Reigning champion Luke Humphries, stunned by Gian van Veen, whilst 2023 winner Nathan Aspinall was dumped out by Wessel Nijman, marking the start of a brilliant few days for the Dutch competitors at the 2025 World Matchplay.

Two stars who have long been earmarked as the future of Dutch darts, Van Veen and Nijman came of age on the opening night. “I think it’s probably the best game I’ve played on a big stage — not averaging-wise, but finishing-wise and doing the good things at the good moments. I’m just a very happy man right now,” Nijman told Dartsnews afterwards, already thinking about the post-match celebrations. “We’re going to party tonight.”

Going under the radar on that first night though, was James Wade. An emphatic performance against Joe Cullen didn’t get the headlines it deserved because of the shocks elsewhere, but ‘The Machine’ was showing early signs of the kind of form that has seen him repeatedly go deep over the last two decades in Blackpool.

The seeds continued to tumble on night two with former champions Rob Cross and Peter Wright falling to two more Dutchmen in the form of Dirk van Duijvenbode and Jermaine Wattimena. In the evening, Gary Anderson then came to the fore, both on the board and in the post-match press conference.

“Youngsters are boring. Absolutely boring,” ‘The Flying Scotsman’ told Dartsnews after his 10–7 victory in the opening round, yearning for the return of the likes of Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Kevin Painter. “You talk to them, they’re too busy looking at their phones. They’re sitting on their phones with their bloody earphones in. Don’t talk to you. It’s a completely different life.”

Having seen Ross Smith out running in the sun on Blackpool promenade on Day Three, hopes were high for ‘Smudger’ in his evening encounter. 5-0 down to Josh Rock at the first break however, Smith’s Winter Gardens return never really got up and running. For Rock meanwhile, it was just a sign of things to come as the Northern Irishman continued his rampant form of recent weeks.

On-stage Aggression

Also that evening, Michael van Gerwen saw off his old adversary Raymond van Barneveld in a somewhat underwhelming latest chapter in their storied rivalry. The main talking point though, was some on-stage needle between Gerwyn Price and Daryl Gurney, something that carried on after the Welsh former world champion had got the better of ‘Superchin’, as Vincent van der Voort recalled in his podcast afterwards. “Gurney was absolutely fuming. Still insisting he did nothing wrong, that it was all on Price. But I imagine Price would say the opposite. There’s so much emotion involved. I don’t mind it though, it adds spice to the sport. As long as it doesn’t turn physical, this sort of tension has its place.”

Stories from the Press Room

After his second round win, Jonny Clayton cut an uncharacteristically down figure despite emerging victorious over Mike de Decker. Far from his usual smiling self, ‘The Ferret’ was highly self-critical, telling Dartsnews: “Tonight didn't show that I'd be anywhere near capable of winning this tournament. I am lucky to get over that line. Mike did not throw well. I'm lucky.”

Luckily, Clayton was in a better mood in his post-match press conference after reaching the semi-final later in the week. In a curious and somewhat hilarious moment, ‘The Ferret’ was asked whether or not the death of Hulk Hogan had affected his pre-match preparation. After taking a minute to double-check he’d heard the question correctly, Clayton responded in his own typical fashion. “I used to go to the same gym as Hulk Hogan,” the Welshman chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve lost a good training partner!”

Surprisingly, this was only one of the occasions the death of a celebrity was used as a question in a post-match press conference. Following Andrew Gilding’s securing of a second successive quarter-final spot at the World Matchplay, the heavy-metal loving ‘Goldfinger’ was asked if he’d been listening to Ozzy Osbourne pre-match. “It was a sad day, really,” replied Gilding, who revealed he owns a Tony Iommi signature guitar. “I like a bit of Black Sabbath… I’ve been kind of collecting guitars – much to the disappointment of my other half!”

It was James Wade’s press conference after his win over Gian van Veen that made the most lasting impression over the course of the week however. From calling out Sky Sports for a perceived lack of coverage, labelling himself “one of the greatest players to ever walk the planet” and even going on a minutes long rant about being overcharged for fish and chips whilst trying to enjoy a day out with his family on Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the experienced Englishman proved himself box office.

Semi-final Drama

Back to the on-board action however, and the semi-finals brought one of the greatest nights of darts ever seen on the hallowed Winter Gardens stage. Firstly, Wade edged Clayton to reach his 7th career World Matchplay final after a Blackpool epic, needing extra legs to eventually seal a 21-19 victory. Then, Luke Littler completed an incredible comeback win from 0-5 down against Josh Rock in the other semi-final, hitting arguably the greatest nine-darter of all time in the process. After Littler and Rock shared four successive 180s to start the leg, the world champion went treble 20, treble 17, double 15 to complete the perfect leg of darts. 15 darts thrown between the two players, all of which found their respective targets.

On commentary for Sky Sports though, Wayne Mardle proclaimed: “That is the second best leg you’ll ever see in your life,” paying reference to Michael Smith’s iconic nine-darter against Michael van Gerwen in the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship final. When told this in his post-match press conference however, Littler himself wasn’t having it. "I think it's the greatest! All them trebles, and the double... Perfect," the 18-year-old smiled to Dartsnews.

Luke Littler lifts the Phil Taylor Trophy

After being 5-0 down again against James Wade in the final, Littler showed once more why he is the world champion, roaring back with some of his trademark brilliance to eventually take the title and secure his place in history as a Triple Crown winner. Speaking to Dartsnews afterwards however, Littler wasn’t yet ready to call himself the best player in the world. “Maybe stat-wise, but I’ll never say I’m the best. I think if you’re number one, then you are the best – no matter if you go out early or don’t perform well. When I’m number one, I’ll say I’m the best,” he explained.

The truth is though, that if Littler can keep up the kind of form he showed during his week at the 2025 World Matchplay however, it’s surely only a matter of time before he usurps Luke Humphries and takes his place atop the pile as number one on the PDC Order of Merit.

If you’d like to see the behind the scenes story of the 2025 World Matchplay for yourself, Dartsnews.com’s own Kieran Wood has created a vlog of his time at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. You can watch it down below!

This article first appeared on Dartsnews.com and was syndicated with permission.

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