PDC World Darts Championship 2025: Joe Cullen Storms Out of Post-Match Interview Over 'Disrespect' from Media and Bookmakers

Joe Cullen marked his return to the Ally Pally stage in dramatic fashion, knocking out one of the tournament favourites Wessel Nijman in the second round of the 2024 World Darts Championship, 3-0. 

Despite being the seeded player and ranked over 30 places higher than Nijman in the PDC Order of Merit, Cullen entered the match as the underdog in the eyes of bookmakers and many pundits.

However, it wasn’t just his performance on the oche that captured headlines—it was his fiery response during the post-match press conference.

From the outset, Cullen made his frustrations clear. When the first question was posed, he wasted no time delivering a blunt response to the media and bookmakers who had labeled Nijman as the favourite.

“I’m going to interrupt you,” Cullen said, cutting off the interviewer. “Honestly, the media attention that Wessel has got—and this isn’t a reflection on him. He seems like a fantastic kid, that’s been caught up in a few things before,” he added, referencing Nijman’s past involvement in a match-fixing scandal. “He’s served his time and held his hands up, like a lot haven’t.”

Clearly agitated by the lack of respect he felt he’d been shown, Cullen didn’t wait to field further questions. Instead, he stood up, delivered one final remark, and left the room.

“The way I have been treated with the media, and I know you guys have no control of the bookies, I’ve been shown no respect, so I won’t be showing any respect to you guys, and I’m going to go home.”

With that, Cullen stormed out, leaving the press conference abruptly and turning attention from his impressive on-stage performance to his bold off-stage statement.