World Matchplay

In 1995, Priestley gets revenge for his defeat in the final a year earlier. He defeats Butler in the quarterfinals and again reaches the final. Especially in the quarterfinals the fanaticism dripped of the face of the Englishman. He had definitely planned not to lose to the American for a second time in a row and he doesn’t. Priestley wins 11-8 and he advances to the semi-finals. For the second year in a row "The Menace" loses the final, this time Phil Taylor proves too strong.

Taylor has not an easy run to the final looking at his results of 8-5 in the first round against Gary Mawson and 8-6 against Jamie Harvey in round two. From the quarterfinals onwards however, the machine is warming up, Paul Lim (11-4), John Lowe (13-4) and in the final Priestley (16-11) are all put aside. The darts connoisseurs agree that the real domination of Taylor in the PDC begins after this final.

On the first day of the World Matchplay 1995, there are immediate fireworks. The draw has put defending champion Larry Butler against Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson versus John Lowe and Rod Harrington against Jocky Wilson. This day has gone down in history as one of the finest darts days of all time. Butler beats Bristow, Lowe wins in overtime 10-8 to Anderson, and the number one in the world, Rod Harrington loses in the first round of the tournament to Jocky Wilson 8-4. It would prove to be the last victory ever for Wilson in a singles tournament on TV. Dave Justice beats Wilson in round two and in December of this year Wilson announces his retirement. Wilson would only play in October of that year alongside Phil Taylor in the World Pairs Championship.

For "Big" Cliff Lazarenko this was an excellent tournament, he reaches the semi-finals, the only one he would play in his PDC career. In the semi-finals the audience was treated to a fantastic match, which was won 13-10 by Dennis Priestley.

In 1995 there is also a Belgian player in the tournament; Jef Scheyltjens is his name and he loses in the first round 8-4 to Nigel Justice. For a long time Scheyltjens would be the only Belgian who has ever participated in this tournament, but in 2012 that changes when Kim Huybrechts puts his foot against the oche.