Luke Humphries’ world title defence was reduced to rubble as the veteran Peter Wright rolled back the years to demolish the champion at a stunned Alexandra Palace.

After a war of words between the pair prior to this last-16 clash, the showdown more than lived up to its billing as Wright, 25 years Humphries’ senior, summoned the performance of the championship so far.

“I thought I played rubbish,” said Wright, 54, afterwards, but it had been anything but as he overcame a season of patchy form to maintain a 101 average to stun Humphries. “Cool Hand Luke” – the man who defeated Luke Littler in the final last year in the most watched darts match in a generation – was a shadow of his former self, sweating and repeatedly checking his arrows. He was thoroughly outplayed and only able to claim a single set.

Wright had been nerveless in closing in on a 4-1 victory, but then the emotion came flooding out of him and he was reduced to tears as a raucous hall was sent into raptures by the major upset. Wright, himself a double world champion, was better than Humphries in every area after promising he would hand the 29-year-old a lesson. He averaged 100.93 to Humphries’ 99.23.

“Snakebite” also found venom in his doubles, a stunning 70 per cent success rate compared to Humphries’ 56 per cent. Fighting back tears, Wright said afterwards that the victory proved he was not “too old”.

“I’ve been struggling for form all year and it’s so annoying because I know I can still play darts,” said the man most renowned for his eye-catching Mohawk hairstyle. “I’ve never experienced anything like [that crowd], I’m a double world champion and I want to win it for a third time. I’m not too old and you only have to play well for two or three weeks the whole year. These three weeks are all that matters and I’m in the quarter-finals. I thought I played rubbish tonight so hopefully I can play better and score better in the next round. As long as this crowd is behind me, I’ve got a chance.”

Prior to their showdown, Humphries had accused Wright of “mind games”, reacting to Wright’s pre-tournament claim that the reigning champion would not even make it this far in the tournament. Wright, who was the 2020 and 2022 champion, had also thrown a verbal grenade in Humphries’s direction during the World Cup of Darts last summer when he claimed that Scotland would “smash up” England before they were beaten in the semi-finals by Humphries and Michael Smith.

But after being sent packing, there was no bitterness from Humphries, who hugged his opponent. The result is seismic for the tournament. Humphries leads the PDC world rankings after winning £1.4 million more in prize money over the past two years than Wright.

Wright has been defying doubters since arriving at Alexandra Palace. He overcame illness to beat Jermaine Wattimena 4-2 on Friday with an average of 96.19. The new world darts champion will be crowned on January 3 and win a £500,000 first prize.

Former world champion Gerwyn Price earlier became the first man to book his place in the quarter-finals by defeating Jonny Clayton 4-2.

Littler: I am not a nice person at the oche

Humphries’ exit will be welcomed by Littler, who said on Sunday he is learning to be “not a nice person” at the oche as he develops a ruthless streak to help fire him to the title.

Littler was visibly fired up by the Alexandra Palace crowd cheering on his opponent Ian White before he eventually overpowered his third-round opponent.

The teen sensation responded by throwing an immediate 180 and then gesturing to the hall as he took advantage of several key misses by White.

“It’s good for me to show I can be ruthless,” said Littler, having secured a fourth-round berth in a 4-1 win, despite being far from at his best. “I am not a nice person on the board, I don’t think anyone else is.

“It doesn’t hurt to have that bit of aggression and be ruthless. It’s always good to have a test as you go through the rounds. You don’t want to be cruising through, obviously I’d love to but when you have got a challenge like that you know you have to step up. You have got to play well, whoever you face. If I sort those doubles out, I’ll be fine.”

World No 33 “Relentless” Ryan Joyce, who claims Littler will not even need to be at his best to win, is next up on Monday. But 17-year-old Littler says he is refusing to fall for the mind games. “I didn’t know he said that,” he said. “But if that’s what he’s thinking it’s not really good for his game, but I just have to focus on my game and see how it goes on the day.”

Littler is now top seed in his half of the draw thanks to Humphries’s exit, but has yet to reach the heights of his remarkable debut at the tournament last year. His final average on Saturday of 97.84 was the first time in 15 matches that he has dipped below 100 on the PDC tour.