Monday 30 January 2017

Orton's Win And When It May Have Been Confirmed

So, it really did end up being a Randy Orton win at the Royal Rumble after all.

I plan to write more about the Royal Rumble over the next few days, if not sooner, but - with hindsight being 20/20 - I believe it's safe to conclude that the decision to have Orton win the battle royal was made somewhere between the Smackdowns of December 27th and January 3rd.

The reason why I can pinpoint this timeframe is because, on the 3rd, ahead of that night's edition of Smackdown - so before the general public would have known about storylines - a flurry of bets came in on Randy Orton.

Interestingly, it was the European sportsbooks that met this influx. In all the years that I've followed wagering on pro wrestling, there had only been one other occasion where I was confident that off-shore moves didn't play a part in prices moving in this part of the world.

As an example, the Coral Sportsbook had Orton at 12/1 on the 3rd, but had been slashed to 5/1 the following day.

It did not make sense for Randy Orton to be featured in the title picture at that time considering John Cena was chasing for title number sixteen and there was talk of him meeting The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33.

It only sort of started to be clear when Shane McMahon announced that the Elimination Chamber would be for the WWE Championship (there were unconfirmed reports of a John Cena .vs. AJ Styles best-of-three match at Elimination Chamber). It was also around this time that stories of Vince McMahon changing his mind on Cena .vs. Undertaker were emerging.

Looking at the time of the bets, it could be argued that McMahon's plans for Mania may have been altered somewhere between November (obviously with the Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg program being extended)and Christmastime. I think it's safe to pinpoint the World Championship direction being rubber stamped somewhere between the last Smackdown of 2016 and the first one of this year.

As mentioned, I'll have more to write about the Royal Rumble betting over the next few days. I may also return to this part of the story because there's a lot more I can delve into.

8 comments:

  1. No Joe either. I think this was a terrible royal rumble match. All the big names lasted mere minutes and i was really hoping for a jericho win in the end

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    1. And i can't believe they put Reigns as number 30...they should put someone whos going to get a big pop... They didn't need to start reigns vs taker tonight because clearly reigns vs braun is happening too

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    2. I believe they had to start the Reigns/Taker thing last night.

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    3. Would have been a wasted opportunity otherwise.

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    4. Looks like we will be having to keep an eye out on europe bookies more for flurry of bets...

      Also. I requested undertaker to eliminate baron corbin and paddy power gave me 4/1. Knew it would happen!

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    5. It was a good way to get the winner cheered by eliminating Reigns, & of course starting Taker Reigns, I don't get all the complaints really I think it was done marvelously even if I don't agree with the winner

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  2. Vince needs to stop changing his damn mind on things, especially for the worse. Id rather a raw guy won, Cena vs AJ in that 2/3 falls match and the Chamber for WM shot. Oh well i just hope they build Mania well. I feel i always get let down at the Rumble these days :(

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  3. Handle title to his historic 16 th reign ,just to lose it a couple of weeks after,go figure

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