The other way of betting on pro wrestling with William Hill was in a Royal Rumble market.
In the summer of 2001, the firm published a market online where customers could bet on the winner of the 2002 Royal Rumble. It was the first time I had seen a bookmaker offer a betting opportunity on wrestling so I wanted a go.
The market was published during the time when the WCW/ECW Invasion was going on. Triple H had suffered the torn quadriceps injury and I was aware that the original plan for SummerSlam was for a babyface Triple H to wrestle 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin for the WWF Championship.
HHH's injury put paid to that plan. However, knowing that a babyface title run was on the cards for Triple H, I knew there was only one person worth backing to win the battle royal.
William Hill had him listed at odds of 9/2. I decided to place £100 on him. At that time, I was a student (or just left) and it was the biggest amount I had ever gambled on any sport let alone wrestling. I was an account holder at William Hill but wanted to put my bet on in a store rather than online. It wasn't against betting online - it was because I like having a betting slip in my hand, walking up to the till and getting in cashed in. To be fair, I still prefer having the winnings handed to me even though the majority of my betting is done online nowadays.
The following day, while at work, I told my colleagues what I was going to do. I explained my reasoning. One of my friends was interested enough to consider betting on Triple H himself. A roadblock was met, though. Here's an example of how the conversation went.
'I might have a go at this. You're betting £100?'
'Yes. That's how strongly I believe he'll come back from injury and win it.'
'Yeah. I am doing this. When is the Royal Rumble?'
'January.'
'Oh, I thought it was this weekend. I prefer betting when there's a shorter wait to see if I've won.'
I went off to the nearest William Hill later that evening with £100 in hand. I walked up to the counter ready to place my bet.
'Can I bet on the WWF Royal Rumble here?'
The cashier looked at me puzzled.
'Err.. no.' Was the best he could offer.
'Oh, the William Hill website is taking bets on the match so I thought I could do it there.'
'No, you'll have to do it on the website.'
And there ended any chance of the victory walk up to the till on the Monday after the Rumble. Online it was.
Nowadays, the online markets are very much linked up to the stores. Back in 2001, it was a different game entirely.
I returned home and placed the bet online. It was a waiting game from that point.
Triple H showed up a the WrestleMania X8 press conference in Toronto and looked jacked - the rehab was evidently going great.He appeared up on the poster for December's Vengeance PPV, so I thought he would return there. It didn't happen.
Instead, he came back during an episode of Raw that aired from Madison Square Garden. Following a great reaction from the New York crowd, Hunter announced his entry into the 2002 edition of the Rumble.
That was my confirmation. My bet was a winner.
Another memory I have of that time was when I left a comment to Kevin Kelly when he was hosting an episode of WWE's Internet talk show - Byte This. He mentioned me and the bet on air.
As we all now know, Triple H did end up being victorious on the night. I made £450 profit. Happy days.
It's quite surprising to think this all happened fourteen years ago. Things have changed so much - we now have a plethora of bookmaking websites publishing odds for WWE events not only for the Royal Rumble but also for other monthly shows. You can also place your WWE bets over the counter at some of the major betting offices.
One thing has remained the same. You can still wager on HHH being a Royal Rumble winner.
Nice story mate. Nice tie in to this years Rumble too
ReplyDeleteThanks! I thought it was perfect for today. I had planned to do it last Rumble but didn't have enough time so it's fortunate I was able to do the tie-in this time.
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