Early And Closing Betting Odds For Night One Of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15

I watched the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 this morning and did so with an eye on Kambi's betting odds that were available for the event right up to the bells for all of the matches on the main show.

Here are the winners along with their early and closing betting odds.

Hiromu Takahashi .vs. El Phantasmo

The first match of the main card of night one saw 2020 Best of the Super Juniors tournament winner Hiromu Takahashi take on Super J Cup 2020 victor, El Phantasmo, to determine who'll challenge Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship tomorrow night.

It was won by Takahashi.

From the betting, the consensus was evidently on the right selection. Takahashi started out as an 11/25 favourite when the market was first published on Boxing Day. By December 27th, his price had lowered into 1/3 and was then at 1/4 on January 2nd.

As you'll see below, Takahashi's price had reduced into 2/13 by 7:00AM GMT this morning.

Dangerous Tekkers .vs. Guerrillas of Destiny

The challengers in the IWGP Tag Team Championship match market plummeted overnight.

The team of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa (Guerrillas of Destiny) fell from 11/20 into 1/8 while the champs - Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi and Zack Sabre, Jr) - rose from 13/10 to 4/1 sometime between 12AM and 7AM GMT today.

The eventual winners started out as 13/20 while Dangerous Tekkers were initially 11/10.

KENTA .vs. Satoshi Kojima

The contract to challenge Jon Moxley for the IWGP US Championship remains with KENTA after successfully defending it against Satoshi Kojima.

KENTA was a 1/10 favourite when the market was first priced up on December 26th. However, this price was slashed into 1/16 sometime between 12AM and 7AM GMT today.

Kojima - who started out at 5/1 - was 6/1 following the eventual winner's price decline.

Hiroshi Tanahashi .vs. The Great-O-Khan

The post-intermission bout was Hiroshi Tanahashi .vs. The Great-O-Khan.

Tanahashi was declared the winnner as the closing underdog.

Both men started out at 17/20 each, when the market was created a day after Christmas. Tanahashi's price dipped into 4/5 by 9:30PM GMT on December 27th and was then at 7/10 on New Year's Eve.

Both men were back at 17/20 yesterday morning and then - when I checked in at 7:00AM GMT today - I noticed that Great-O-Khan had dipped into 3/4 while Tanahashi had drifted to 19/20. 

At 9:05AM GMT, I noticed that the eventual winner had dropped into EVS while The Great-O-Khan had moved up to 7/10.

Kazuchika Okada .vs. Will Ospreay

Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay both closed at 17/20 in the market for their grudge match.

When betting first started, in mid-November, Kambi had Ospreay as an 11/20 favourite with Okada at 5/4.

The market was adjusted on Boxing Day with Okada lowered into 9/10 while his former CHAOS stablemate was moved to 4/5.

As noted, both wrestlers were at 17/20 when the market closed. This followed Okada's price once again lowered by 8PM GMT on December 30th.

The betting was on the right side as Okada was the winner of the contest.

Tetsuya Naito .vs. Kota Ibushi

The market for Tetsuya Naito's IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship defence against Kota Ibushi was released on November 14th with the challenger an 8/13 favourite over the 23/20 for Naito.

Ibushi's price began a decline from there. 

It was at 11/20 within two days. It was then at 1/2 on November 19th and was then at 2/5 when the market was adjusted on Boxing Day.

I noticed the challenger's odds were at 7/20 when I checked in on Saturday morning and had dropped into 1/3 sometime between 12AM and 7AM GMT today. 

And it didn't stop there.

As the event was in progress, the oddsmakers cut Ibushi's odds into 1/4. This was the final reduction before the market closed ahead of the main event.

Naito was a 5/2 underdog by match time. 

As the punters expected, Ibushi defeated Naito to claim both titles. He'll go on to defend the straps against Jay White tomorrow.