WWE News: Opening Betting Odds Out For ‘WrestleMania 31,’ Who Is Favored And Who Is The Most Controversial Bet?

While it seems weird to ever bet on a show with already pre-determined winners, it seems that the world of betting has no bias when it comes to pro wrestling. Every year, the Super Bowl and the NCAA Basketball Tournament has a lot of bets put on it. Of course, these are sports that clearly can go either way. Yet, you would be shocked to know that there are tons of people who bet on WrestleMania every year as well. It is staggering, in fact.

A few people decide what will happen and the winners are kept quiet for as long as possible. While we all have ideas about who will win, there is rarely a time when WWE goes the way we think for every match. They love to surprise us, even if it’s just a match or two here and there. WrestleMania provides that, which is interesting to say the least. So people actually win and lose a great deal of money on the show.

Now the betting odds are out from Paddy Power, and you won’t be surprised how everything is going so far. Of course, these are opening numbers. They will probably change.

The odds are as follows.

– Roman Reigns favored (2/7) to defeat Brock Lesnar (9/4) for the WWE World Heavyweight Title

– John Cena favored (1/7) to defeat Rusev (4/1) for the WWE United States Title

– Dean Ambrose favored (4/6) to win the Intercontinental Title Ladder Match over Daniel Bryan (3/1), Bad News Barrett (9/2), Dolph Ziggler (11/1), Stardust (8/1), Luke Harper (19/1) and R-Truth (35/1)

– Damien Sandow favored (8/5) to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal over Sheamus(9/2), Mark Henry (6/1) and others

– Sting favored (1/7) to defeat Triple H (4/1)

– The Undertaker favored (2/9) to defeat Bray Wyatt (11/4)

– Randy Orton favored (8/11) to defeat Seth Rollins (even odds)

– Paige and AJ Lee favored (3/10) to defeat The Bella Twins (11/5)

– Seth Rollins favored (4/7) to not cash in his briefcase

As mentioned, a lot of these betting odds aren’t surprising. Roman Reigns has been favored for some time over Brock Lesnar, and John Cena has been favored over Rusev. Sting is favored over Triple H, and The Undertaker is favored over Bray Wyatt. While some of these could go the opposite way of what we think, it’s unlikely. Yet there are some who believe Brock Lesnar will walk out WWE World Heavyweight Champion. This could be a jackpot or a bank-breaking decision if you bet on The Beast Incarnate.

Most of the other matches are the toughest to pick. While the big matches seem to be all but confirmed to go certain ways, the others are definitely difficult to pin down.

Paige/AJ being favored this high is understandable, but I wouldn’t put them up so much. The Bella Twins have been hot as a duo all year, and AJ/Paige have been enemies since day one. Are they now friends who will work well together? WWE might go the way of the Bellas, especially if the rumors are true that they will leave when their WWE contracts expire this year.

The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and IC Title Ladder match are the ones people will most likely both lose and win a lot of money on.

Going into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Damien Sandow seemed like the favorite due to fan love. However, with Sheamus potentially coming back to WWE programming at WrestleMania, it would seem a bit dumb to have him in a return match only to lose. So the favorite should be Sheamus going in only because of the return. Henry shouldn’t be favored nearly as high as he already returned, plus he never wins these things it seems.

Sheamus has a good history with battle royals. He won the Royal Rumble one year and won the United States Championship in 2014. So this isn’t a bad match for Sheamus.

The IC Title match has a lot of fan favorites in it, such as Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, and Daniel Bryan. This is possibly the hardest to pick only because of that factor. Then WWE could always pull a surprise here too. Ladder matches such as this at WrestleMania rarely go the way everyone might think. While Dean Ambrose is favored over Daniel Bryan, this may not turn out the same next Sunday.

This is the first WrestleMania as a singles competitor for Ambrose, who has only won one PPV match since going that route. Meanwhile, Daniel Bryan has competed in multiple WrestleMania matches and even multi-man matches on the show. He has at least won at multiple PPVs as a singles worker, as has everyone in this match just about.

The last two on the ladder might very well be Ambrose and Bryan. However, Bryan has been screwed in fans’ eyes for months. Ambrose, however, deserves a win. So what way do you go? Popularity over deserving. Bryan is the best bet really, especially if WWE wants to bring prestige back to the championship itself. It’d also be the triple crown for Bryan, which is a big deal in wrestling. Additionally, Bryan has a good history at winning ladder matches, as he won MITB one year.

Some matches are tough while others are easy. Going in, you never know where something will go truly until it happens, so your pool bets may need to be light. WWE is known for pulling shockers. The Undertaker did lose last year, of course.

[IMG Credits: craveonline.com, barrymk100.deviantart.com, dailyddt.com]