The final of 1983 took place between 1st and 2nd May, with 1981 champion Steve Davis pitting his wits against the 1980 champion Cliff Thorburn, while Davis was competing in his second world final, it was a third for Thorburn who, in addition to his aforementioned triumph, had of course lost the first final at the Crucible in 1977 and was desperate to add to his tally of one world title, as indeed was the ginger-haired cueman from Romford.
After the first four frames of the opening afternoon session were shared, Davis took a hold of the match by winning the next four frames and establishing a 6-2 lead. His advantage quickly increased in the first frames of the evening session as he went into a 9-2 lead thanks in part to errors from Thorburn, who, having played in some tremendously long matches during the course of the tournament, was now completely and utterly exhausted and simply was unable to offer much resistance to Davis, who finished the first day with a comprehensive 12-5 lead.
Davis won the opening frame of the second day's afternoon session and in the second frame, Thorburn missed a number of pots allowing Davis to capitalise and lead 14-5 before he took the next two frames to head into the mid-session interval 16-5 and two frames away from the title. In the first frame after the interval, Davis made a break of 131, and, although Thorburn managed to win a frame back, Davis completed a comprehensive victory at 18-6, the first final at the Crucible to be completed with a session to spare.
1984 saw the final take place over the weekend of 6th and 7th May, and once again featured defending champion Davis and, making his debut in the world championship final, talented Londoner Jimmy 'Whirlwind of London Town' White, while Jim Thorpe took charge of the match, having refereed the UK Championship final in 1980 and 1984. In the first session, the defending champion stormed to a 6-1 lead and he further extended his lead by taking the first two frames of the evening session, White won the next two frames but found himself 10-2 down at the mid-session interval. After the interval, White won the first two frames but then found himself going in-off in frame 15, and then Davis subsequently one the next frame to take a 12-4 overnight lead. However, in a glimpse of what would happen the following year, White made a great fight of it by winning seven of the eight frames in the third session, but Davis began the final session by taking the first three frames to lead 16-12 before White again put up further resistance by winning three frames in succession to trail 16-15, Davis won the next on the colours to lead 17-15, before White made a break of 65 to trail 17-16 and the possibilty of the match going to a decider looked extremely likely. Davis, however, had other ideas, and he retained the title - the first player to do so at the Crucible - by taking the frame 77-40 and winning by 18-16. While Davis celebrated and lifted the world championship trophy, Alex Higgins, White's snooker hero and friend, was himself inconsolable as he attempted to comfort White following his defeat.
Of all the finals that have been played at the Crucible Theatre, indeed, of all the finals that have been played during the modern era of the world championship, the final which took place on 27th and 28th April 1985 has gone down as the most memorable in snooker history, and one of the most memorable moments in sporting folklore. Steve Davis went into the final, once again as defending champion, and looking to claim his fourth world championship title, while his opponent, the genial and popular Irishman, Dennis Taylor, was looking to claim the title for the first time, having been denied by Terry Griffiths in 1979. Taylor was also being driven by the inspiration of his beloved mother, who tragically died suddenly while Taylor was competing in the 1984 Jameson International, immediately withdrawing to return home. A few weeks later, driven by a determination to win for his mother, Taylor played some tremendous snooker in claiming the Rothmans Grand Prix, thrashing his great friend, Cliff Thorburn 10-2 in the final.
Davis, naturally, was not favourite to retain his championship and he certainly justified the pre-match predictions of another title when he marched into a seven-frame lead, although Taylor had actually made a break of 50 in the opening frame. Davis then took the eighth frame at the start of the evening's second session and looks odds on course to claim the ninth when, in what, in hindsight, actually turned out to be a particularly significant turn of events, Davis missed a thin cut on the green and Taylor cleared up to clinch his first frame, ironically raising his finger to emphasise the point. Even though Davis then won the next to go 9-1 up, Taylor fought back and claimed six frames in a row to end the day only 9-7 behind.
Twice on the following day, Taylor tied the match at first 11-11 and then again at 15-15, but never found himself ahead of Davis at any point thus far during the final. Davis then won the next two to take a 17-15 lead, and at this point, since it seemed almost certain that Davis would get over the line, Embassy officials, as well as BBC presenter David Vine, were waiting behind the curtain into the arena, believing that the end was nigh. Taylor, however, had other ideas, and took the next two frames to ensure that the destination of the 1985 World Snooker Championship would be decided on the 35th and deciding frame of the final, by which point over 18.5 million viewers, the highest ever UK television audience for a snooker match, were tuned into BBC Two, glued to their sets for a final frame which would last over an hour and eventually conclude at 12.23am. Davis was leading 62-44 with just four balls remaining, Taylor requiring all over for the title. He then potted particularly difficult pots on the brown, blue, and pink, leaving just the black ball for the championship. With black left safe, both players attempted to double the ball, with no success, at one point Taylor thought he had doubled it as the crowd were cheering as the ball headed towards the pocket before going safe. Taylor had the first real good opportunity, taking on a long pot to the baulk corner, but missed the pot and left Davis with a particularly thin cut to the bottom left corner, Davis then missed it and left Taylor with a mid-range shot, while legendary BBC commentator, Ted Lowe, simply said, 'This is really unbelievable', and referee John Williams, who of course had been standing throughout the match, and who was praying that the match would be over, called for order from the packed Crucible audience.
Taylor took his time before pushing his cue through and potting the black, giving him the world championship for the first time. Immediately Taylor raised his cue aloft with both hands and, after catching sight of his good friend Trevor East, who worked for ITV Sport, wiggled his finger towards him, before shaking hands with Davis and referee Williams. After David Vine had put his first question to a pale and crestfallen Davis, Davis deadpanned and responded, 'It was all there in black and white'.
The following year, Davis found himself back in the final again, which was held on 4th and 5th May. His opponent this time was Bradford's Joe Johnson, who, at the start of the championship, had been rated as an 150/1 outsider by the bookmakers and at first it looked like the bookmakers were spot on as Davis lead 3-1 after the first four frames, including breaks of 108 and 107. Johnson, however, struck back in fine style, winning the next three frames to finish the session with a slender 4-3 lead. Again Davis started the second session strongly, winning four frames in a row to lead 7-4, after the mid-session interval, however, Johnson himself won four frames on the bounce before Davis took the last frame of the day to level the match at 8-8.
The next day Johnson was seen sporting a rather fancy pair of red, pink and white leather shoes. He started the third session tremendously well, taking four frames in succession to establish a 12-8 and he headed into the fourth and concluding session 13-11 ahead, supported by huge support from the Crucible crowd, who were roaring the Yorkshireman on to a famous victory. In that fourth session, Johnson took three of the first four frames to establish a 16-12 lead, before securing the next two frames to claim his first world championship - which turned out to be his only ranking title - 18-12. Davis was gracious in defeat, recognising that he had been completely outplayed, while Johnson was also gracious in victory and emphasised that he felt that Davis had not received the credit that he deserved and that he was a great ambassador for snooker.
The 1987 final, played on 3rd and 4th May, again saw Davis and Johnson face each other in snooker's showpiece match, the first time that the same players had met in successive finals at the Crucible, which, unlike previous years, was decked in a turquoise-blue color rather than the usual Embassy pink. It also marked the first time that the final had been contested by the tournament's top two seeds. Davis took the first frame with an excellent break of 127, which in fact was the highest of the entire championship, before Johnson struck back to win the next three frames, with the defending champion ending the session narrowly ahead at 4-3. Davis began the evening session by winning the first three frames to lead 6-4 before Johnson took the next with a break of 101 but then fell behind as Davis secured the next two frames. Johnson then took the next frame before the last two frames of the day were shared, giving Davis a 9-7 overnight lead.
Johnson took the first frame of the third session to reduce Davis's lead to 9-8 before the Romford man took four frames in a row to take a 13-8, he lost the next frame, however, after leaving the final black in a position which Johnson could pot it, which he did, before Davis won the final frame of the session to lead 14-9. Johnson started the fourth and concluding session in excellent fashion, winning four consecutive frames to reduce Davis's advantage to 14-13, before Davis then won three in a row, to take a 17-13 lead. Despite Johnson taking the next frame, Davis got over the line and claimed his fourth championship by making a break of 73 to win 18-14. In his post-match interview, Davis expressed his relief at reclaiming his title, 'Winning this is better than 1981 because I've experienced getting beat in the final and its horrible'.
Steve Davis' domination of snooker carried on well into the late-1980's and he reached his sixth consecutive world championship final, held on 1st and 2nd May 1988, with his opponent being his good friend and a fellow member of Barry Hearn's 'Matchroom Mob', Terry Griffiths, who was competing in his first world championship final since winning the title in 1979. Davis had a particularly good record against the 'Griff', having won fifteen of their nineteen previous meetings.
Griffiths won the first frame before Davis then won five in a row, before the 1979 champion took the last of the afternoon to give Davis a 5-2 lead into the next session. Just as the afternoon, Griffiths won the opening frame of the session before Davis then took the next two frames to lead 7-3. Griffiths then won four successive frames to level at 7-7 before Davis re-established his lead at 8-7 and then Griffiths took the last of the day to level again at 8-8 overnight. Despite missing several pots, Davis took the first three frames of the third session, leading 11-8, after Griffiths had made several errors. The Welshman took the next frame with a break of 46 before Davis restored his three-frame lead with breaks of 33 and 36 in the 21st frame. By the end of the session, Davis had established a 14-10 lead.
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Davis then won the opening frame of the fourth and evening session, before taking two of the next three frames, to lead 17-11 heading into the mid-session interval. He took the title with a break of 66 in the next frame to take the world title for a fifth time and for a second year in a row.
The final of 1989 was held on 30th April and 1st May, and, for a seventh consecutive featured Steve Davis, looking for his sixth title, while his opponent was Merseyside's John Parrott. Davis started off winning the first two frames, before Parrott won the third, before Davis increased his advantage to lead 5-2 heading into the evening session. Davis continued his domination of the final by winning all four frames of the first mini-session and by the end of the day had increased his lead to an almost unassailable 11-3 lead, Parrott would not in fact win another frame.
Parrott had had chances to win the first two frames of the third session, but lost both of them to Davis on the pink before Davis won a further two frames to increase his massive lead to 17-3 and victory was assured with a full session to spare when, after Parrott had broken down on 40, Davis made a break of 42 to ensure the largest winning margin seen so far at the Crucible and his sixth (and ultimately final) world championship, and his third in a row after 1987 and 1988. Since the final had ended with a session to spare, the two finalists came back and played an exhibition match.
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