Royal Rumble '26 Betting Favourites

BetOnline's markets for the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble closed at 5:00PM GMT. 

Both of the Royal Rumble outright winner markets closed with odds-on favourites in Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan respectively. Each selection was -200 apiece.

Morgan was +2,500 when the market was first installed in early December. That was a little under a fortnight before she returned to WWE following her return from a summer injury.

The Judgment Day member found her way to the top of the market by January 4th. She remained at its peak through to today's close.

Roman Reigns has been a relatively consistent favourite in the market for the Men's Royal Rumble. However, were moments when he battled Bron Breakker for the top spot in the market. 

The two selections even flipped places today with Reigns moved into second-favourite this afternoon before he regained his spot from Breakker shortly before betting was suspended.

The closing favourite for the Undisputed WWE Championship match between Drew McIntyre and his challenger - Sami Zayn - was the former. However, it was clear from the betting that, Zayn was the public's favourite to go over in the match. 

As I've covered over the previous day (on Friday and this morning), the market for the AJ Styles .vs. Gunther match was taken off the board. The sportsbook noted that Styles had opened as a -200 favourite over Gunther's +300. However, when I came across the market, a week last Wednesday, Styles was a heavy -1,000 favourite while his opponent was +500.

BetOnline pointed to Styles trademarking at least a couple of monikers as to their reasoning for pulling the market. Before that, the sportsbook noticed customers 'hammering Gunther to win this match'.

In a potentially corelated incident, the sportsbook also removed Gunther from its Royal Rumble winner market, so customers were unable to bet on the Austrian since Monday of this week.

Liv Morgan, Roman Reigns, Gunther (over Styles) and McIntyre (over Zayn) remain favourites to win their respective matches in domestic Royal Rumble markets still available as of the time of writing.

BetOnline Explains Styles/Gunther Decision Plus More

BetOnline's PR team sent out an email to their contacts last night to explain something which was brought up in yesterday's post regarding the AJ Styles .vs. Gunther betting market that has been taken off the board.

In the post, I shared the match odds I was able to follow before betting was suspended. As you'll see in the table below, Styles was a -1,000 favourite over Gunther's +550 when I initially came across the market a week last Wednesday.

You'll also notice Gunther's odds were the only decreases I witnessed in the period before the book was shut on this particular match.

Jimmy Shapiro, who sends out BetOnline's press releases, noted that Styles had started off as a -300 fave to Gunther's +200 and that 'bettors at BetOnline.ag have been hammering Gunther to win'.

The spokesperson reasoned that the punters were backing Gunther in reaction to the news of AJ Styles independently trademarking a couple of monikers to use within the wrestling business leading some to see him setting those up to work outside of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Shapiro didn't mention another possible reason why the sportsbook's clients might be siding with Gunther over Styles.

Following his match against Styles on last week's Saturday Night's Main Event, Shinsuke Nakamura wrote a blog post about his friend and mentioned that - sometime in 2025 - Styles told Nakamura the Phenomenal One eyed the 2026 Royal Rumble as the venue where he would retire from WWE. 

That journal entry was later pulled.

Going by where the odds were when I began following the market, if Styles opened at -300 then the early bettors must have sided with the favourite early in the betting for the selection to be at -1,000 by the evening of January 21st.

Which leads me to something which was not addressed by BetOnline.

In yesterday's post, I pointed out that Gunther's selection has also been pulled from BetOnline's outright winner market for the Rumble.

The last sign I have of Gunther in the market is from Wednesday of this week. At that time, he was priced as a +200 second-favourite -  a position he had held since falling in from +1,400 in the opening days of 2026.

I have asked whether BetOnline has suspended Gunther from the market because they've corelated Gunther winning against Styles would also mean he would end up scoring a brace by outlasting the field in the battle royal later in the card.

As pointed out yesterday, it would be more logical for Gunther to somehow lose against Styles and then regain his heat by winning the Rumble later in the night. Of course, he could do both, but the former scenario makes the most sense if the plan is for Styles to continue his active career in WWE and for Gunther to be in one of the title bouts at WrestleMania.

European bettors can still find markets for the Styles .vs. Gunther match. For example, Sky Bet has Gunther favoured at 1/2 (-200 US) with Styles priced 11/8 (approximately +138 US).

Gunther's name still exists in the Rumble winner markets as well. He's generally found in fourth place at odds of around 9/1.

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In a side note, I was forwarded the following image from a friend of the blog overnight.

It shows that BetOnline had taken Roxanne Perez off the board for a brief period and he happened to catch them at that time.

It's not abnormal to see this happen with betting websites when a selection is backed. However, something similar did occur with Jey Uso's selection on the Friday night heading into the 2025 Royal Rumble.

The bet/s have not affected Perez's odds. The selection has returned back to its position in the +6,600 range.

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On Smackdown, an on-screen graphic that is used during the Royal Rumble match briefly popped up on screen.

The display showed Bron Breakker as entrant number one. 

If this was an unintentional mistake (this could be a plant to further the Adam Pearce .vs. Heyman/The Vision storyline), it suggests that the plan was for Breakker to start early (obviously!). I have checked the 'Most Eliminations' market on the BetOnline website and the graphic has caused Breakker's odds to oust the most participants to be halved from +400. 

It's interesting to see Breakker given that number, if true, because that would have meant he'd have shared that spot with his uncle - Scott Steiner - who was number one for the 1994 Royal Rumble. 

Breakker's father - Rick - entered in position three.

Oba Femi remains a favourite in this particular market.

Visit BetOnline's WWE Markets

Rumble '26 Odds And Musings

This week's episode of Smackdown, which will air from Saudi Arabia at 5PM GMT, could give us a few more clues for the Royal Rumble matches, but I thought I'd give myself a head-start on Rumble musings by doing my semi-annual posts where I look at the list of potential winners and  then say who I've gambled on.

Starting with the men's Rumble, the favourite from the start of betting remains the same - Roman Reigns. 

Reigns winning the Rumble does seem logical if we factor in the reports that one of the most earliest plans for this year's WrestleMania was for the OTC to challenge Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. That idea appears to have been iced following Rollins' shoulder injury, which was suffered at WWE Crown Jewel 2025. It resulted in the champion having to relinquish his title. It ultimately landed on CM Punk.

Therefore, with Punk replacing Rollins for the strap, would it not be reasonable to consider he also takes The Visionary's  place as Roman Reigns' WrestleMania dance partner?

BetOnline's current second-favourite is Sami Zayn. His placement is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, Zayn was moved into that position earlier this week when Gunther was taken off the board from BetOnline's Rumble winner market. 

The removal coincided with the firm taking down the Gunther .vs. AJ Styles market. As you'll see below, customers had been backing the Austrian to send AJ Styles into retirement. However, the entire market was removed on Sunday for no clear reason. Gunther was then removed from BetOnline's Rumble outright winner market within a day or so later.

To draw my own conclusions, I suspect the betting firm took late action on Styles winning the match against Gunther and then had money landing on Gunther to come back and win the Rumble in the main event.

A scenario like that was spitballed by Dave Meltzer on a recent edition of his Wrestling Observer Radio podcast. It would make sense because it would see Gunther lose and regain his heat close to instantly.

For what it's worth, however, European sportsbooks still have the market for the AJ Styles .vs. Gunther match. Gunther is odds-on to win. 

To compare the European outright Rumble winner markets - Gunther is fifth in the betting there. So, there is a contrast with how both the retirement match and Gunther's potential Rumble showing are represented between the two betting continents.

Sami Zayn being the second-favourite falls into, I suppose, a similar narrative. I suspect gamblers have been punting on Zayn to win the Royal Rumble with an idea that he'll fail in his quest to unseat Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship earlier in the night and then come back to be the last man standing in the battle royal.

With next year's WrestleMania set to emanate from Saudi Arabia, it seems to me that Zayn winning next year's Royal Rumble to set him up for the Mania 44 main event is a far superior story if the company wants to belt up Sami Zayn at one of these Saudi shows.

McIntyre is a short-priced favourite to successfully defend the strap tomorrow. He's currently 2/5 (-250 US) in Europe and an extremely priced -4,000 with BetOnline.

The champ had started at -5,000 but Zayn was backed down from +1.200 overnight.

Bron Breakker is a second-favourite with European bookies and is placed third in the running on the BetOnline website. The latter is intriguing because BetOnline's own research into the US public's interest in who will win the men's Royal Rumble has Breakker leading the pack.

Just like for previous major WWE PLEs, the team at BetOnline has geotagged data from the X social media platform to determine who the consensus are siding with.

Of the fifty US States, twenty are rooting for Bron Breakker per the rules of this project.

Speaking of X, it should be noted that the person in charge of the WrestleVotes account is on record as stating that Breakker was high on the list of potential winners from the WWE writers' room.

Remember above, when I wrote about Roman Reigns versus Seth Rollins as being one of the potential earlier plans for WrestleMania? Well, another one was Reigns challenging Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE Championship.

Now that Rhodes is no longer holding the strap, his odds to win his third Rumble in three years - after winning in 2023 and 2024 - have descended. He's currently a top price of 12/1 here in Europe (Betfred) and +475 with BetOnline. The selection is fifth in Europe and fourth with BetOnline.

If we're going by how Rhodes lost the title (Jacob Fatu interrupted the Three Stages of Hell match ultimately allowing McIntyre to escape and win the belt) and how his Saturday Night's Main Event match with Fatu didn't happen (McIntyre interrupted before the bell rang), I feel it's safe to conclude that those three will meet in a triple threat match somewhere on the road to WrestleMania if not at the event itself.

And for that, Jacob Fatu should become an important option for Rumble bettors. He is sixth in the running with both betting firms. The best available European price is the 14/1 from Star Sports. Fatu is less than half of that, at +600 (6/1 UK) with  BetOnline.

I've had a few Rumble punts over the past few months. Here's the list along with the odds.

Roman Reigns 17/2 - Placed in October. I suppose I was under the impression he would challenge Rhodes.

Austin Theory 50/1 - There's method to my madness. Remember when Theory was the masked man? Well, I thought they would tease it was Seth Rollins for longer than they did. I had enVISIONed the masked man being in the Rumble with the commentators suspecting it was Seth Rollins only for Theory to unmask once he had won it. Which leads me to....

Seth Rollins 20/1 - I put this bet on around the time when Bron Breakker was set to challenge CM Punk on the first Raw of 2026. I thought it was worth a gamble just in case they put the belt on Breakker.     This despite Rollins still being injured. Alas, the Breakker winning the belt part didn't happen.

Brock Lesnar 33/1 - Another one filed in the 'just in case Bron Breakker is the champion by Mania' drawer.

Jacob Fatu 20/1 - The most recent wager and one I would like to see come in the most. With that said, if the WrestleMania match for the undisputed WWE Championship is the McIntyre .vs. Rhodes .vs Fatu triple threat, I suspect WWE would rather have Roman Reigns win the Rumble so they can get a head-start plugging at least one of the main events for WrestleMania weekend.

It could obviously be Cody Rhodes winning the spot first, ahead of Jacob Fatu (if it's the match), but I think McIntyre telling Cody he had to get back in the line of challengers allows for Rhodes' journey to WrestleMania to see him get into the title match via the back door, if you will (please read that in a Dusty Rhodes voice!).

In regards to the women's Rumble, I believe the current favourite makes the most reason. That hasn't stopped me from hoping on another selection with longer odds, however.

Liv Morgan is the consensus betting favourite right now. As of today, BetOnline customers can find her odds-on at -125. She had started out in the +2,500 range at the bottom half of 2025.

Morgan was on my list of potential winners during the summer after she was shelved following an injury against Kairi Sane on Raw. I fancied the idea of Morgan coming back as a Rumble surprise and winning.  Instead, she returned in December and made it known her goal was to bring gold back to The Judgment Day faction.

The wrinkle to Morgan's current storyline is the fact that her ally, and Judgment Day stablemate, Raquel Rodriquez is currently feuding with Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer. 

Vaquer is scheduled to defend her strap against Rodriquez on the upcoming episode of Raw. Wouldn't it be even more interesting for Monday if the curiosity over the result of the title match has Morgan's Mania title choice looming over it?

Bianca Belair was the betting favourite before Morgan switched spots with her at the start of this year. Ironically, both appeared together on a Netflix commercial which began airing around Christmastime.

Belair does have a perfect storyline to return to should she win the Rumble. Her former tag team partner, Jade Cargill, is holding the women's title on Smackdown. 

Which leads to my longshot bet, which - if looking at current TV - doesn't seem that much of a longshot. 

Jordynne Grace has recently been brought up to the Smackdown brand from NXT (and TNA before that). Her very first interaction was with Cargill. On last week's episode of Smackdown, Grace announced she would be an entrant in the Rumble and once again set her sights on the holder of the WWE Women's Championship.

I have backed Grace at 50/1. She's currently available at 40/1 (Ladbrokes/Coral) in Europe while BetOnline lists Smackdown's newcomer at a whopping +6,600 (66/1 UK). 

As stated, Morgan makes the most sense considering Monday's match. Grace at those long odds, however?  I strongly believe Jordynne Grace's price should be shorter than they are considering she's in a storyline where the champ is ducking her challenges. 

Cargill vs Grace could simply end up being a TV match, or even something for the undercard of Elimination Chamber 2026, so maybe the bookmakers have Grace priced right.

We'll find out tomorrow. Hopefully not sooner.

Visit BetOnline's WWE Markets

Betting Favourites For WWE Saturday Night's Main Event (26 January '26)

Here are the closing betting favourites for tonight's episode of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event.

• Sami Zayn to win Fatal 4-Way
• Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky 
• AJ Styles
• Jacob Fatu

The selections are ranked in order of strength using the betting odds that were available from the BetOnline Sportsbook. 

Sami Zayn closed as a -800 favourite to become number one contender to Drew McIntyre's Undisputed WWE Championship.

The team of Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky closed as -700 favourites to successfully retain the Women's WWE Tag Team Championship over Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez. There was no activity from this market from the day I began following it.

AJ Styles was -650 to go over Shinsuke Nakamura in the most recent bout to be added to tonight's card.

Finally, in a recent update, I pointed out that Jacob Fatu's odds to get a decision against Cody Rhodes had dropped into -120 from +135. As a result, Rhodes' price moved up to -120 from -175 leaving both selections at pick 'em. By the time of the market's closure, Fatu's price had moved in slightly to -125 while Cody Rhodes' number went up a tad to -115. Therefore, the closing fave was Fatu by an inch.

All of the price adjustments I was able to capture can be found in the tables below.

BetOnline Publishes Styles/Nakamura Market

BetOnline has installed a market for the latest addition to the card for tonight's WWE Saturday Night's Main Event.

On yesterday's Smackdown, a match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura was set up. Following the announcement, a market for the bout was priced up here in Europe. However, the oddsmakers from BetOnline still only had three betting opportunities when I checked in this morning and a couple of other times today.

The market has now gone live with Styles a -550 favourite over the +325 for Shinsuke Nakamura. 

As I pointed out this morning, domestic bookmakers have Styles at the equivalent of -1,000 while those looking to gamble on Nakamura can find him out to +500.

Visit BetOnline's WWE Markets

Rhodes/Fatu Moves To Pick 'Em In SNME Betting

Jacob Fatu's odds to beat Cody Rhodes have now fallen in a market for tonight's WWE Saturday Night's Main Event clash.

Earlier today, I noted that the BetOnline Sportsbook was offering Fatu at odds of +135 despite being priced up as a favourite in markets available from Europe.

Fatu has since fallen into -120 while his opponent has risen up from -175 to -120 meaning both selections are at pick 'em.

The adjustments were made sometime before 2:10PM GMT today. 

The remaining two markets are still showing the same pricing as THIS MORNING.

Visit BetOnline's WWE Markets

Betting Odds For The 24th January '26 Edition Of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event

BetOnline's markets for tonight's edition of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event have been available since the start of this week. As of this morning, there are three matches available to bet on. In this post, I'll go through each match and point out who the customers are betting on.

Or not.

The market for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship has been stationary since Monday. The current titleholders - Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky - are listed as -700 favourites to successfully retain their straps against Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez (+400).

The sportsbook placed Cody Rhodes as a favourite to defeat Jacob Fatu when they meet in their grudge match. The only adjustments for this match were made within the market's first day. It saw Rhodes' odds move in from -150 into -175 while Fatu's were increased from +110 out to +135.

Interestingly, European sportsbooks have the selections with their respective roles reversed. For example, Jacob Fatu is the equivalent of a -138 favourite while Rhodes is -110 with Paddy Power.

It comes as no surprise to see Sami Zayn favoured to win the Fatal 4-way to determine the number one contender to Drew McIntyre's Undisputed WWE Championship. As I wrote earlier this month, Zayn challenging for the title in Saudi Arabia - at the Royal Rumble - seems quite a perfect opportunity for WWE. At the time I predicted Zayn would qualify for tonight's match, I didn't even realise the four-way decider would play out in Zayn's home province of Quebec.

Sami Zayn had been available as a -600 favourite throughout most of the week, but was moved into -700 overnight. His opponents have all drifted out with Randy Orton slightly up to +310 from +300 while the selections for Trick Williams and Damian Priest each moved out from +700 to +750.

BetOnline doesn't have a market for the latest addition to the card - an AJ Styles versus Shinsuke Nakamura match. There is an opportunity to wager on the contest domestically, however. 

Paddy Power lists Styles as a 1/10 favourite (-1,000 US) over Nakamura's 5/1 (+500 US).

Saturday Night's Main Event betting markets can be found under 'Wrestling' on the BetOnline Sportsbook's menu.

How McIntyre's Title Win Could Impact Rumble Betting Markets

Drew McIntyre has become the new Undisputed WWE Champion after beating Cody Rhodes in the Three Stages of Hell match which took place in the main event of tonight's WWE Smackdown from Berlin, Germany.

The result could now impact betting markets for the Royal Rumble considering Cody Rhodes' new status.

In regards to Rhodes - Sky Bet is currently listing him at 9/1 to win the battle royal in three weeks from tomorrow. The former champ had been available at 25s a little over a month ago.

Advertised for next week's Smackdown are four qualifier matches. Each winner will then compete in a Fatal Four-Way match on the January 24th episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with the last man standing winning a shot against the champ a week later at the Rumble.

The bouts set for Wembley Arena next week are Damian Priest .vs. Solo Sikoa, Matt Cardona .vs. Trick Williams,  Randy Orton .vs. The Miz and Sami Zayn .vs. Ilja Dragunov.

Going by those names, and bearing in mind the strap is now held by a strong heel plus the Royal Rumble is taking place in Saudi Arabia, it would not surprise me to see Sami Zayn given the spot to challenge McIntyre for the title in front of an audience that would root for him in that position.

By process of elimination, Rhodes is evidently in the cold for now. Hence why he should become one of the potential betting favourites to win the thirty-man Rumble on January 31st.

However, it would be the third time in four Rumbles if such a result were to reoccur.

Drew McIntyre is currently no longer listed in Sky Bet's Rumble winner market even though he was there - at 14/1 - last month.

Current Betting Odds For Raw's Netflix Anniversary Special

It has been over a month since the oddsmakers from the BetOnline Sportsbook published a betting market for the World Heavyweight Championship match scheduled between titleholder - CM Punk - and his challenger, Bron Breakker, set for tonight's edition of WWE Monday Night Raw.

At the time I first spotlighted the market, the oddsmakers offered Punk as a -175 favourite over the +135 for Breakker. However, within just two days, the odds for the underdog had lowered into +110. 

Punk has since been stationary, at a price of -300, after falling from -150 on December 7th. As a result of the bets seemingly coming in on the champ, Breakker was pushed up from the aforementioned +110 out to +200.

That isn't the only market available for tonight's special edition of WWE's long-running show, which celebrates its first year - as part of the Netflix family - tonight.

The Kabuki Warriors' Women's Tag Team Championship will be on the line against Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky.

When the betting for this match was first installed on December 17th, the bookies had Ripley and Sky as -250 chalk to get the win over Asuka and Kairi Sane (+170). Within a day, the favourites' number had tumbled into -500 while the titleholders' was pushed up to +300.

The most recent adjustment to the market has sided with The Kabuki Warriors because their price has slid in slightly with a snip into +250.

Those looking to gamble on Ripley and Sky can now grab them at -400.

Also on tonight's card is a Women's Intercontinental Championship defence for Maxxine Dupri against previous champ - Becky Lynch. 

The BetOnline staff haven't priced up a market for that particular attraction. 

Current prices correct as of the time of writing. The markets can be found on BetOnline's WWE Betting Page.

Another Raw Betting Market Released Plus More

The team of Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky are betting favourites to defeat The Kabuki Warriors for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on the first episode of WWE Monday Night Raw for 2026.

BetOnline sent out a release this evening noting that the challengers are -250 favourites over the +170 for Asuka and Kairi Sane.

The bout was confirmed for the January 5th show in a segment which aired on current edition of Raw. World Wrestling Entertainment is hyping up the upcoming card because it'll be the one-year anniversary of its move to Netflix.

Earlier this month, the oddsmakers from BetOnline put out a market in which customers could bet on the WWE World Championship match between CM Punk and his challenger - Bron Breakker.

As it currently stands, Punk is -300 to Breakker's +200.

The favourite's odds were shortened, from -150 sometime before 8:00pm GMT a week last Sunday. As you'll be able to view - in the table above - the early adjustments sided with the challenger because Breakker was backed from +135 into +110 within the first two days. 

Punk was a -175 favourite on December 2nd before rising to -150 and then halved.

In a correlated note, Bron Breakker remains a favourite to win the 2026 Royal Rumble on January 31st. However, his odds have drifted from +140 to +150 since Monday. That's likely due to a selection for CM Punk having been added to the Rumble market within the past day or so.

A Punk Rumble win is currently offered at +400 as a third-favourite with Roman Reigns (down into +290 from +300) sandwiched in-between the two January 5th opponents.

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