WC - counterfactuals

OK, maybe a bit of nonsense but here goes.

What if...

No Reardon in 70s - who wins the championships he won?

No Davis in 80s - likewise

No Hendry in 90s - same


Perhaps 90s is easiest given the finals...

White lost to Davis four times in the 80's and five times in the 90's to Hendry. He obviously wouldn't have won nine World titles and given his personality he would have been happy with two.

Probably Alex Higgins wins 1 more in the 70s. Possibly in 1983 as well. He could have beaten an exhausted Thorburn in the final.

Maybe a couple of titles for Parrott. Obviously Ronnie could have won as early as 1995 and 1999.

Jimmy would have lost 16 consecutive finals between 1984 and 1999

Dragonfly wrote:Probably Alex Higgins wins 1 more in the 70s. Possibly in 1983 as well. He could have beaten an exhausted Thorburn in the final.

Maybe a couple of titles for Parrott. Obviously Ronnie could have won as early as 1995 and 1999.

Jimmy would have lost 16 consecutive finals between 1984 and 1999

He definitely wouldn't have lost 16 in a row, because he either would have crumbled completely before the 16th and become a good but not great player, or he would have taken a year out/skipped a WC sometime during these years just so he could stop the consecutive streak

HustleKing wrote:

Dragonfly wrote:Probably Alex Higgins wins 1 more in the 70s. Possibly in 1983 as well. He could have beaten an exhausted Thorburn in the final.

Maybe a couple of titles for Parrott. Obviously Ronnie could have won as early as 1995 and 1999.

Jimmy would have lost 16 consecutive finals between 1984 and 1999

He definitely wouldn't have lost 16 in a row, because he either would have crumbled completely before the 16th and become a good but not great player, or he would have taken a year out/skipped a WC sometime during these years just so he could stop the consecutive streak

Obviously he wouldn't have reached 16 finals in a row as he lost to the likes of Knowles etc.

But you never know with Jimmy. After losing his 12th final he'd say he's flying in practice and still believes he can do it

Spencer would most likely have won 7 or 8 in the 70's. Charlton probably 1 or 2.

Jimmy would have won 84 and then who knows what he'd have gone on to achieve? Thorburn and Griffiths would there or thereabouts.

90's - Davis may have gone on for longer but for the emergence of Hendry. Obviously Jimmy still comes into the equation as does Parrott. Doherty, Wattana, Ebdon would probably have won more. Now for my trump card: Nigel Bond, who lost to Hendry at 4 consecutive World Championships - a final, a semi-final and 2 quarters.

Thanks for some great responses so far!

My thoughts having had a bit of a study...


1970 - Spencer

1973 - Spencer, but possibly Charlton

1974 - (bit out there) - Miles

1975 - Probably Charlton

1976 - Higgins

1978 - Charlton




1981 - Thorburn confounds Crucible curse!

1983 - Higgins, probably

1984 - Jimmy

1987 - Jimmy

1988 - Griffiths

1989 - Hendry wins 1st title a year early. (obv taking each of the 3 individually)



1990 - Jimmy

1992 - Jimmy

1993 - Davis wins 7th???

1994 - Jimmy

1995 - Jimmy

1996 - Ebdon?

1999 - O'Sullivan??



So -

No Reardon, Spencer 5x WC Charlton 2x WC

No Davis, Thorburn 2x WC and Griffiths 2x WC Jimmy 2x WC and Hendry 8x WC??

No Hendry, Jimmy 4x WC and Davis wins a seventh?

Alex would have won 2 more world titles, one in 76 and another one in the 80s.
Spencer would have won 2 more in the 70s.
Jimmy wins in 84 and 3 titles in the 90s.

If Jimmy had won a world title in the 80s he’d probably have drank and snorted himself to death by the 90s.