Remembering When William Hill Did 'To Be WWF Champion At The End Of The Year' Odds

With 2016 hitting us within the next few hours, I thought I'd publish a post remembering one of the first wrestling bets that people in Europe were able to wager on and do some fantasy bookmaking of my own.

In 2000, WilliamHill.com opened a book where its customers could punt on who they thought would be WWF Champion at the end of 2001.

Names like The Rock, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Mankind (Mick Foley), Kurt Angle and Triple H were at the top of the list, but it was one Chris Jericho who turned out the bookie's heel as his win over both Austin and The Rock at Vengeance on December 9th of that year set him up as the Undisputed WWF Champion as 2001 turned to 2002.

I don't recall the odds for Jericho, but Hills' spokesman - Graham Sharpe - did release a statement over the result and noted that the bookies took a wash on the outsider's rise to the WWF throne.

Before Jericho's win was confirmed, the company had already published betting odds for the 2002 Royal Rumble (more on that another time) as well as 'Who will be WWF Champion at the end of 2002?'

I did put my money on both of the markets. However, in this post, I'll concentrate on the latter.

If you recall - 2001 saw WCW close down, so a fair few ex-WCW wrestlers were added to the list. Names like Bill Goldberg and Kevin Nash were letting their contracts with Time Warner roll on until they expired. Even though they were sitting it out, they were available from the bookie.

I then heard talk about the New World Order possibly being reformed under the WWF umbrella and I went ahead and placed a bet on Hulk Hogan.

My William Hill account's betting history doesn't go that far back, but - if I recall correctly - he was a decent priced outsider. I thought it was worth a punt on him being champion at the close of 2002.

Hogan did return to the WWF in February of that year, he had a magnificent reaction at WrestleMania X8 when he faced The Rock and unseated Triple H to become WWF Champion by the close of the following pay-per-view.

I more or less knew there and then that the bet wasn't going to cash. There was no way Hogan's nostalgia wave would carry over from April to December 31st.

The Undertaker defeating him for the strap at Judgment Day on May 19th - just a month later -confirmed my fear.

But, that's not how it ended. One glimmer of hope did emerge. The bet wasn't completely dead by that point.

If you recall, Hogan did a job to Brock Lesnar as the latter was preparing to win the WWE Championship from The Rock at SummerSlam. The Hulkster even juiced for added effect and went on one of his lengthy absences.

And then the talk was he would return to wrestle Lesnar for the title at Madison Square Garden on the Survivor Series card.

My bet was back in play!

Or so I thought.

The aforementioned bout ended up being pulled from the plans because Hogan wanted to come back and have Brock Lesnar return the jobbing favour. Vince McMahon had other ideas. It resulted in Hogan extending his time away until the start of 2003.

My bet failed.

The winning selection for that market turned out to be Kurt Angle. He claimed the strap in a triple threat match at Armageddon - the final PPV of the 2002.

It's worth noting that WWE had two world titles in play at that point. This didn't mean anything to the betting, though. The WWF/E Championship was what the people had bet on.

After 2002, WWE betting dried up for a few years before the recent boom period we're experiencing. Royal Rumble outright markets have started showing back up months ahead of the actual event, but the 'To Be Champion at the End of the Year' markets haven't been part of this renaissance.

Which leads me to predict how this year's market would have paid out had William Hill, or any other WWE bookie, opened a future WWE champion book.

It's safe to assume that the bookie's would have had Roman Reigns near, if not, at the top of their lists. 2015 was all set up for him. Many predicted he would win the 2015 Royal Rumble, claim the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31 and go on from there.

Seth Rollins was the obvious thorn in his side, and the bookmakers - knowing he was Mr. Money in the Bank - would surely have accounted for the possibility that The Architect would wind up with the title at some point in 2015.

It would have actually been fun to ride the roller coaster of emotion with either a Reigns or Rollins betting slip through 2015. I'm sure I'm not alone with this thought.

As for 2016 - if a bookie had written up a market, I'm confident Roman Reigns would be on top. Sheamus having already cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot wouldn't be worth a bet.

If I were to throw out two guesses, the two names I would consider backing are Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens.

I would have chosen Rollins because I am hoping he comes back from his current setback and find his way back into the title picture by the close of the year.

And then there's Kevin Owens who I think will have a great year. He's my early pick to win the Money in the Bank briefcase in the summer of 2016. This is, of course, if he isn't in the title picture before that point.

It'll be interesting to see how close these predictions are this time next year. Expect a follow up in twelve months.

Happy New Year to everyone who has visited in 2015. All the best for 2016.