Luke Humphries has revealed his so-called ‘war of words’ with Peter Wright was settled with a hug. The darts rivals exchanged some spicy comments via the media ahead of their fourth-round clash at the 2025 World Championship.
Wright, 54, had predicted earlier in the tournament that defending champion Humphries would suffer an early exit and declared he could still compete with and beat the likes of Cool Hand and Luke Littler. He said: “I’m here to upset Luke Humphries.”
In response, Humphries said Wright had been playing “mind games” and highlighted the fact he was just one world title away from matching the Scotsman’s tally of two. Their match, which Wright surprisingly went on to win 4-1, was preceded by a Sky Sports montage of the pair’s back-and-forth.
However, Humphries insists that the alleged spat was completely overblown and that he and Wright have great respect for each other. Speaking during the recent Bahrain Masters, he told the Express: “Me and Peter were fine before and after what was said.
“It was Sky Sports who were putting on a facade that there was some big beef there. When we walked in the [practice] room on the day we played, we gave each other a hug.
“Nothing had changed, it was just this weird hype that was created by a few things. The comments I said were meant in a good way. It was ‘if I win one more world title, it would match Peter’. That would have been a compliment to myself.
“This is the thing you’ve got to be careful of these days, everything gets turned. The resolution for me this year is to watch what I say because the drama that comes with it is just not worth it anymore.”
Humphries is now in the Netherlands for the Dutch Masters in Den Bosch, which begins today (Friday). Ahead of the tournament, the 29-year-old admitted he got caught up in the hype surrounding his match versus Wright at Alexandra Palace.
“It [the war of words] was never a thing, it got blown out of all proportion,” he told Online Darts. “We hugged on the day we played; there was no animosity between us.
“But it kind of put pressure on me then because I felt like I needed to prove a point when I didn’t really need to. It threw me a little bit but that wasn’t an excuse for losing. Peter was better, and sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say ‘fair play’.”
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