Gerwyn Price told James Wade he was going to “smash him up” before a must-win Grand Slam of Darts clash in Wolverhampton after losing to ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans
Gerywn Price told James Wade he was going to “smash him up” before his must-win Grand Slam of Darts clash.
Price needed to beat The Machine on Saturday afternoon to keep his Glam Slam dreams alive after he was beaten by Ricky Evans on the opening day. Rapid Ricky pulled off one of the wins of his career to beat the former World Champ.
And the defeat meant Price needed to beat Wade to stand any chance of making it out of the group stage. “We were practicing back stage,” Price explained to Darts Now.
“And James is like ‘all the best’, and I said to him: ‘James I’m your friend, but on the stage I hate you bud’. That’s what I said to him!
“I’m not here to be your friend, I’m here to smash you up…maybe that hurt him a littler bit – I’m not sure!”
Price dismantled Wade, beating him 5-0 and leaving The Machine’s chances of moving into the next round in real danger.
The Welshman admitted, however, it was a tough win: “It was a tough one against Wadie – he’s a great friend of mine.
“And whoever came through, I said to him we’ve got a good chance of going on and winning this tournament.
“So yeah, it was a tough one, but I’m glad I came through. Sometimes I prefer that pressure, you know, when you know if you lose, you’re going home.
“In a knockout situation I seem to find my best stuff, and yeah, I played well today. James missed a couple of chances, but I was clear to go.”
Price is back in action on Monday, where he will clash with Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont – who stunned the darting world to beat Wade before losing to Evans.