A Look Back At The Betting Odds From Past WrestleManias : Part IV

This is the penultimate part of a series where I look back at the betting odds from past WrestleManias. Today's post will cover the prices that were available for WrestleMania XXVIII, which took place on April 1st 2012.

The odds I will be using were taken from the 5Dimes Sportsbook & Casino.

The pay-per-view began with the World Heavyweight Championship match which saw the champion, Daniel Bryan, lose to Sheamus in seconds. The Irishman was the favourite to win the title.. His odds to walk out as champion were set at -250 (1.40 EU, 2/5 UK) with Bryan +170 (2.70 EU, 17/10 UK).

Following on from the short opener was a singles match involving Kane and Randy Orton. The underdog for this match was Kane as he was priced up at +300 (4.00 EU, 3/1 UK). The wrestler became the first outsider of the night to be victorious after pinning his rival following a chokeslam. For the record, Orton had been available at -500 (1.20 EU, 1/5 UK).

The third match of the night was an Intercontinental Championship match which saw champion - Cody Rhodes - defend his title against The Big Show. Rhodes was slightly favoured at -140 (1.71 EU, 5/7 UK) with Show at +100 (2.00 EU, EVENS UK). The underdog was once again the right pick for the bettors. Show finished off Rhodes with his knockout punch and won the Intercontinental Title for the first time in his career.

The betting underdogs were 2-1 going in to the fourth bout on the card. With the match including television personality, Maria Menounos, it was safe to assume the favourites would even things up.

Menounos & Kelly Kelly, who were marked up at -300 (1.33 EU, 1/3 UK), defeated Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres (+200 US, 3.00 EU, 2/1 UK).

The lock of the night was next up when The Undertaker squared off against Triple H in a rematch from their battle a year earlier.

Undertaker was priced up at -900 (1/9 UK) when the odds went live. His opponent on the night may have tempted some at +500 (6.00 EU, 5/1 UK). The Undertaker won via pinfall in the Hell in the Cell match. The win was a landmark victory as it set his WrestleMania win-loss record to 20-0.

The bout to get a lot of talent featured had to follow the encounter between The Undertaker and Triple H. Team Johnny were -300 (1.33 EU, 1.3 UK) favourites to defeat Team Teddy (+200 US, 3.00 EU, 2.1 UK). The sportsbook had the odds correct. The team managed by John Laurinaitis were given the victory.

The WWE Title match followed that. CM Punk, who was WWE Champion at the time, was -200 (1.50 EU, 1/2 UK) while the challenger - Chris Jericho - was available as a short underdog at +150 (2.50 EU, 3/2 UK). Punk saw off Jericho by submission to retain the title.

The talk heading in to the main event of WrestleMania XXVIII centred on how the fans would react to John Cena defeating The Rock in Miami. Little did many know that the plan was for The Rock to win in 2012 and then return the honours in 2013.

Dwayne Johnson was an underdog when the lines opened. He was marked up at +150 (2.50 EU, 3/2 UK) with 5Dimes.com. John Cena was available at -200 (1.50 EU, 1/2 UK), which is similar to how the odds for the previous match had looked. The only thing different was the underdog won here.

WrestleMania XXVIII was another interesting event which saw three underdogs covering. There wasn't any controversial decisions where matches had to be dealt as void by the sportsbook. All in all, it was just a see-saw day for both punter and line maker.

Next Monday, I'll post the final part of this series. In it, I will go back and check out the lines from last year's event.