By the start of this tournament, the WDC were in the closing days of their own 1994 World Championship, with Dennis Priestley going on to beat Phil Taylor in the final.

Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Dennis Priestley, Jocky Wilson, Rod Harrington, Alan Warriner, Peter Evison, Richie Gardner, Keith Deller, Bob Anderson, Cliff Lazarenko, Kevin Spiolek, Jamie Harvey, Mike Gregory and Chris Johns were the players who formed the WDC and therefore did not participate at these 1994 Championships.

Dan Waddell wrote that the tournament "had the feel of the 1980 Moscow Olympics after the US boycott, or Test cricket during Packer's world series; the best players and most enthralling characters in the game weren't there, so the whole event felt hollow and fraudulent.

As a result, players previously unheard of had a chance to make a name for themselves and Canada's John Part dropped only one set en route to the Championship.

His semi-final against Sweden's Magnus Caris saw him comeback from 4 sets to 2 down, winning 9 successive legs to secure his place in the final.