After Steve Davis had lost his grasp on the Embassy World Snooker Championship on the very last black ball of the 1985 Championship, unsurprisingly, many observers and spectators highly expected him to be hot favourite to regain the trophy. However, under the radar was Bradford-born Joe Johnson, who was rated by the bookmakers as 150-1 to win the title.
The man who had actually dethroned Davis the previous April was himself unable to defend the title at the first time of asking, with the late BBC commentator and long-time editor of Snooker Scene magazine, the great Clive Everton suggesting that Taylor looked rather 'jaded' as he made a terrible start to his first round match against Mike Hallett, trailing 8-1 going into the concluding session. Despite Taylor making some sort of a recovery in winning five frames, he still exited the Crucible, losing 10-6; Johnson, on the other hand, defeated Dave Martin 10-3 and Davis was a 10-4 victor over Ray Edmunds. Eventually, at the semi-final stage, Johnson defeated Tony Knowles, who was making his second semi-final appearance (having lost to Cliff Thorburn in 1983), while Davis overcame Thorburn to set up a final in which most people had Davis as the overwhelming favourite, just as he was the previous year.
Johnson, on the other hand, had other ideas and finished the first session with a narrow 4-3 lead before the evening session saw the players level at 8-8. The next day, Johnson, by now wearing a rather snazzy pair of red, pink, and white leather shoes, took control of the five, winning a set of frames to go 12-8 and ending the session 13-11 ahead. In the fourth and final session, the popular Bradford player took three of the first four frames to lead 16-12 and then won the first two after the mid-session interval to take the title 18-12. After the match, Davis sportingly recognised that he had been completely outplayed by his opponent, while Johnson, quite rightly, said that he felt that Davis never got the credit he deserved from the public.
The next year - 1987 - saw a rather unusual look to the Crucible, with the usual pink design replaced by a blue background. For a second successive year, however, both Davis and Johnson reached the final, with Davis this time gaining revenge for his two previous final defeats, taking the title for a fourth time by overcoming Johnson 18-14 before spraying champagne all over the table after receiving the trophy.
1988 saw Davis gain the championship for a fifth time, defeating his friend Terry Griffiths 18-11, in a match which Clive Everton described as not having been a vintage final but, as the Benson and Hedges Snooker Year stated, it merely emphasised the dominance that Davis was then having on the sport.
This dominance Davis showed in rather stunning style when he demolished Liverpudlian John Parrott 18-3 in the most one-sided final that has been seen in the Crucible. Parrott himself had been affected partly by the Hillsborough Disaster which had taking place just a few miles from the Crucible on the opening Saturday of the championship - in his first round match against Steve James the following day, Parrott, a passionate Everton supporter, wore a black armband as a mark of respect for those Liverpool fans who had so tragically lost their lives - the following Saturday, 22nd April, the afternoon session was delayed from 3pm until 3.06pm so as to allow for a minute's silence to be held as a mark of respect.
No-one knew it at the time but Davis' conquest of Parrott would mark the last time that the Romford man would lift the world championship trophy. The following year, Jimmy White, who had succumbed to Davis in the 1984 final, got his revenge by defeating the defending champion 16-14 in the semi-final, waiting White in the final was a certain 21-year old Scot called Stephen Hendry. Hendry, then managed by the rather fiery Ian Doyle, became the youngest world champion at 21 years and 106 days by overcoming White 18-12, White's second Crucible final defeat. It was, alas, not to be his last.
Hendry, who had now taking the number one spot from Davis, was again highly fancied to triumph in Sheffield in 1991, but, to the surprise of many, he was beaten in the quarter-finals by Steve James, while White once again made his way to the final, this time coming up against John Parrott. Parrott, however, was in tremendous form and he proved this in the final, coming out as a comfortable 18-11 winner.
White became the second player, after Cliff Thorburn, to record a maximum break, hitting one against Tony Drago in the second round of the 1992 World Championship, and, once again, White reached the final. Unfortunately, for the Whirlwind, he came up against the one and only Stephen Hendry. This time, White at one point looked as if he might take the title, being 14-8 up and White later confessed that he was already thinking about what he might say in his winner's speech. However, Hendry came back in spectacular fashion, winning ten frames in a row and coming out as a 18-14 winner, winning his second world crown. Hendry and White met yet again in the following year's final, but this time White was no match for Hendry who won the title with a session to spare, crushing White 18-5, the last time that a final has been won without having to go to a fourth session.
Without doubt, 1994 was the year that Jimmy White should have been crowned Embassy World Champion. Again facing his old foe, Stephen Hendry, the final went all the way to a deciding frame, for the first time since that memorable final in 1985, and White was in among the balls, with even Hendry admitting that he thought that White was going to win, suddenly, White snatched at a black, missing it off its spot, and Hendry, who almost ran out of his chair to the table, cleared up to snatch the championship from White's grasp, devastating the vast majority of people both in the Crucible and those watching on television who were willing White to lift the trophy for the first time.
Hendry's domination of snooker, and, in particular, of the World Championship, continued unabated. Aside from Hendry's success, the 1995 World Championship saw the debut of a certain Scot by the name of John Higgins, who lost out at the first round to his friend and fellow compatriot, Alan McManus, while another debutant, Devon's Andy Hicks stunned the Crucible by defeating six-time world champion Steve Davis. Until the COVID-effect championship held in the summer of 2020, this marked the last time that the championship began on a Friday and concluded on a Sunday, rather than on a Bank Holiday Monday, as is traditional. For a change, it was not Jimmy White whom Hendry encountered in the final, but Nigel Bond, at first the match was close, but from 5-5, Hendry won nine frames in succession to lead 14-5 and eventually triumphed 18-9.
1996's tournament began with a hint of controversy in the first round match between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Belgian Alain Robidoux, in which Robidoux accused O'Sullivan of disrespect with the Londoner playing left-handed for the majority of the eleventh frame of their match, O'Sullivan rather petuantly responded that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux did with his right hand. O'Sullivan faced more trouble when following an alleged assault on tournament director, Mike Ganley, he received a two-year suspended ban and a fine of £20,000, plus another fine of £10,000 which was donated to charity.
Hendry again faced new opposition in the final, with Peter Ebdon attempting to becoming the first player to defeat Hendry in a world final, despite putting up a valiant fight, Hendry ultimately triumphed, defeating Ebdon 18-12, a final which also saw the end of legendary BBC commentator Ted Lowe's career, he had decided to retire at the conclusion of the championship.
Ronnie O'Sullivan lit up the 1997 World Championship by making a maximum 147 break in a record time of five minutes and eight seconds, the fastest recorded maximum in the history of snooker. However, despite his obvious talent, he did not reach the final, that was between Stephen Hendry and Dublin's Ken Doherty, and everyone presumed that Hendry would once again come out on top as the King of the Crucible. Doherty, however, stunned all by making a tremendous start and at one stage held an incredible 15-7 lead over the defending champion. Hendry, like all great champions, did not lie down, and hit back by winning five frames in a row to make it 15-12 before the popular Dubliner won the next three frames to claim his first title 18-12 and ending Hendry's extraordinary record of 29 unbeaten matches at the Crucible and the first time he had not ended the season as world champion since 1991.
Just like Joe Johnson in 1986, Doherty was the second player to come closest to breaking the 'Crucible Curse' when he reached the final for a second successive year, coming up against his good friend, Wishaw's John Higgins, who was appearing in his first world final. Higgins played magnificently, making five centuries as he defeated Doherty 18-12.
Higgins fell victim to the 'Crucible Curse' the following year (1999) when Cwm's Mark Williams, another member of the fabled 'Class of 1992', comfortably defeated the reigning champion 17-11 in the semi-final, while Hendry triumphed 17-13 over Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach his seventh final in nine years.
Hendry started the final, which was officiated by the late Colin Brinded, firmly on the front foot, taking all four frames of the first mini-session on Sunday afternoon, Williams won the fifth before Hendry took the next before Williams took the final two frames to trail 5-3 heading into Sunday evening's session. Hendry again started the session in fine form taking the first two frames to lead 7-3 before the next two frames were shared, Hendry making a 132 break. Williams then won the next two frames, before Hendry won the final two frames of the first day's play, leading 10-6, against any other player this would have not been an insurmountable hurdle for Williams, but Hendry was a man on a mission, aiming for a record-breaking seventh world crown.
Williams began the third session on Monday afternoon taking the first two frames before the next two frames were shared and then Hendry really began to dominate, making breaks of 106, 55 and 53 taking the the final four frames of the session to head into the evening session 15-9 and requiring only three frames to claim the title.
Hendry started the final session winning the first two frames with breaks of 66 and 62, before Williams won the next two frames to keep himself in touching distance. However, in the next frame, Williams, who had taken a 40-point lead, missed a red and up stepped Hendry to make a break of 88 and claim his record-breaking seventh world title. It would also turn out to be Hendry's last World Championship.
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