Crucible curse
The Curse of the Crucible (English: Crucible curse or The curse of the Crucible ) denotes the fact that in no snooker world champion successfully defended his first title the following year, after the World Snooker Championship in 1977 moved to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The last player who could defend his first title was John Pulman in 1964, when the World Cup have been decided yet in so-called Challenge matches.
The Crucible
The following world champions were unable to defend their first title next year. Of the fifteen players who have won their first World Championship title at the Crucible Theatre, five her first match lost as defending ( Terry Griffiths in 1980, Steve Davis in 1982, Dennis Taylor, 1986, Graeme Dott in 2007 and Neil Robertson 2011) and there were only two players reach the final (Joe Johnson in 1987 and Ken Doherty 1998).
Before Crucible
The only champion who could defend their first title, are Joe Davis in 1928, Fred Davis 1949 and John Pulman in the first challenge match in 1964.
Ray Reardon, Alex Higgins and John Spencer are the only players who won the World Cup both before and during the Crucible era. All three neither their first World Cup title could still defend her first Crucible title the following year.