Darts 'Royal Rumble' Event Set For 2026 After Luke Littler Backing

A darts Royal Rumble-style event has been announced to take place in 2026 following backing from several players.

The idea for a Royal Rumble-style event has been floated backstage for a number of years.

Essentially, the event would start with two players facing each other, with the winner remaining on stage and the loser being replaced by a new competitor for the next match.

The process would continue until player number 30 - or a similarly high number - had walked on to the oche to play the match, with the winner of the 'final' becoming champion.

The idea has received backing from reigning PDC world champion Luke Littler among others, while former PDC player Paul Nicholson claimed in 2025 that the concept had been 'floated around for a little while now'.

Littler told SPORTbible in May: "Have it!

"I don't think they can go above one leg of 501. Straight away, one leg, the loser goes off. Then the next player, they'll do their walk-on, and so on."

Organisers of the MODUS Super Series have finally decided to go ahead with the Royal Rumble concept, and made an official announcement on Thursday.

Alongside a promotional video which featured the likes of Steve Beaton, Robert Thornton, Kevin Painter, Fallon Sherrock and Adrian Lewis, MODUS wrote: "ROYAL RUMBLE DARTS EDITION COMING SOON!

"Who will enter the Royal Rumble?"

As it is a MODUS event, full-time PDC tour card holders cannot enter as it would be in breach of their PDC contracts - unless a specific agreement was made.

That means that the likes of Littler, Luke Humphries, James Wade, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price would be ineligible to compete.

Any other darts player, though, would theoretically be free to enter - and if the event is successful, a PDC equivalent will no doubt be in high demand.

Fans already have some ideas of names they would love to see enter the MODUS version.

"Phil Taylor has to be number 30," one wrote.

"This has got Matthew Edgar written all over it," another said.

While a third claimed: "Gotta throw a Jaack or Angry Ginge style entrant into the mix."

While record-breaking 16-time world champion Taylor has officially retired from darts, 'The Power' could potentially be tempted out of retirement for a one-off event.

Two-time world champion Lewis, meanwhile, returned to darts last year after an absence of over two years, but decided not to enter Q-School to win back his PDC tour card and is therefore eligible to compete.