"Tommy Cox said don’t do that again": Paul Nicholson learned the hard way with hostile Grand Slam of Darts reception

When Paul Nicholson first stepped onto a televised PDC stage at the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts, it wasn’t just his darts that caught attention – it was the walk-on.

Nicholson was known as a bit of a pantomime villain as Peter Manley wound down and Gerwyn Price came in the years that followed. Known as 'The Asset', he was buoyed by his love of wrestling with CM Punk themed walk-ons and also wearing sunglasses. Now a focal point of darting media, Nicholson perhaps wouldn't have expected that a few years ago when he went on stage for the first time aiming to capture the essence of character to the full.

“At county level, I’d walk on with sunglasses,” Nicholson told Huw Ware in Tops and Tales. “Yeah – The Matrix vibe. But the white polo shirt I wore wasn’t part of the plan.”

That shirt, in fact, was the product of a last-minute scramble. “I’d had a dart shirt made with airbrushing on the back – which included a firearm in the artwork. Matt Porter told me, ‘You can’t wear that – we don’t want to advocate firearms.’ Fair enough. So I went to the PDC store and bought a completely mundane polo shirt. Terrible, heavyweight cotton – not comfortable – but I made it work.”

The look may have been improvised, but Nicholson’s stage presence was unmistakable. From the moment he walked out, the Wolverhampton crowd reacted – loudly. “On that debut, the crowd gave me stick straight away. I wasn’t expecting that. I found it quite amusing at first – I’m not Peter Manley, I didn’t expect boos. But people told me, and they were right: don’t antagonise a Wolverhampton crowd. And especially when you go on stage making ‘shooting’ gestures like I did – I didn’t know what I was doing, maybe too influenced by The Matrix. I was raw. What I did know was how to throw darts. First three darts on TV – 180. First leg – 12-darter. After that, I thought, ‘Alright, we can do this.’”

Nicholson’s first TV opponent wasn’t just a top player – he was someone Nicholson had known for years. “I’d called his final in Northumberland and then beat him at the Grand Slam. Gary once said in an interview in 2009 that he’d known me since I was a kid – when I was a ringer for Bedlington Station club in Super League. I knew him when he had the ring earring and was called ‘Smiler.’ He was dynamite. To get him as my first televised opponent was weird – the only weirder would have been Gary Robson, one of my mentors.”

Despite the scale of the occasion, Nicholson wasn’t overwhelmed by Anderson – but that wasn’t the case with everyone in his group. “With Anderson, I felt oddly comfortable. Less so with Daryl Fitton and Kevin Painter. That day, I was up at 6am, played at night, got to the venue eight hours early – barely stopped throwing. I just wanted to keep playing and not be nervous.”

The debut victory was memorable, but it came with a warning. “It was a learning experience on and off stage. As soon as you come off stage at the Civic, you go down a spiral staircase to the practice room – first person I met was Tommy Cox. He said, ‘Don’t do that again.’ Meaning tone it down. These were early days when I was first told the Darts Regulation Authority were watching.”

Nicholson didn’t make it out of the group, losing to Fitton and Painter. But he came away with valuable experience and a sense that bigger things were ahead. “Great experiences but didn’t get through. That’s a story for a book one day.”

Those “bigger things” came quickly. Just weeks later, Nicholson lit up the World Championship stage at Alexandra Palace, beating two darting giants en route to the quarter-finals. “Some of my best darts? Unquestionably. My preparation was close to perfect – thanks to James Stevenson and Robbie Clear in Littlehampton. They got me practice, exhibitions, fresh air, and friendship. By the time I got to Ally Pally, nothing was going to stop me.”

He opened with a flawless display against Adrian Gray. “I beat Adrian Gray 3–0, nine legs to nil, averaging the same as Phil Taylor in that round. At that point, I knew this wasn’t just a hobby anymore.”