Comment Bag : 31 December 2016

Phil Ramsey asked this earlier today:

I note Conor McGregor's price for a match at WrestleMania 33 has shortened from 9/1 to 7/1 at Betfair.com. Any views?

My reply:

I fully expect going off on a tangent with this response, so apologies beforehand..

The 'Yes' option is now showing 6/1 and this is now in line with the same price you can get with Kambi.

I have quite a few thoughts on this. I have written about Conor/WWE numerous times since these markets were published. The most recent being a little over two weeks ago when I put up one post noting that Triple H was asked about McGregor and Ronda Rousey and then followed that up later in the day after Kambi republished its McGregor specials markets.

What I believe is the case is punters have read about WWE wanting McGregor, Rousey or Paige Van Zant and have just been placing wagers on them making appearances or, in the case of McGregor, having a match at WrestleMania 33.

For example: Ronda Rousey's odds to make a WrestleMania appearance have dropped since Triple H spoke to the press about the pair.

I doubt McGregor will be in a match at next year's WrestleMania. They already have a celebrity taking on a wrestler in the Shaquille O'Neal versus Big Show fixture. I know McGregor is more valuable than Shaq for pay-per-view numbers, but think it'll make sense to hold off on him for the time being.

After Ronda Rousey's loss to Amanda Nunes this morning, McGregor's asking price may have went up as well.

Which sort of segues back to Ronda. In my opinion, there's more chance of her making an appearance at WrestleMania.

I've been over-thinking why WWE has added the 'Flair' to Charlotte's name, given her a singles record on PPV and referred to her as the 'Queen of Pay-Per-View' and I think it's all to do with building towards Charlotte going up against Ronda Rousey.

The mainstream will be all over this match if it's the daughter of the leader of the Four Horsemen of wrestling going up against the leader of the Four Horsewomen of MMA.

With that said, this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter states that - even though it isn't a lock - the possible Raw Women's Championship bout for April 2nd will be a multi-person match.