Before I begin, I should start off by stating that - as of right now - I believe that Daniel Bryan will be the winner of the men's Royal Rumble match.
Bryan is the betting favourite across all of the websites I've been following. And rightfully so - WWE, and Bryan himself, have been pointing out that he has never won the battle royal.
This leads me to the first of Kambi's markets that I had a gamble on yesterday.
It is a proposition special, found alongside the regular Rumble match winner market, which asks whether the battle royal will be won by a '1st time winner'.
When I placed my bet on 'Yes', the price was 2/1 over the 'No' which was 1/3. However, before writing today's post, I noticed that the price has now flipped with the 'Yes' the 1/3 fave over the 2/1.
It's possible that it may have been priced up the wrong way although - when I first came across the market - I immediately thought that the bookmakers were betting against Bryan by laying him at a generous price.
All I saw was Brock Lesnar as Kambi's second-favourite and concluded that maybe they believe The Beast has a chance of winning. After thinking it through, it dawned on me that Lesnar is Kambi's second-favourite because the bookmakers have adjusted their market accordingly. For example - Big E, who had been a betting favourite with all the firms, is now beginning to drift now that he is the Intercontinental Champion and appears to not be moving into a program for either of the major titles for at least the foreseeable future.
With Smackdown's Bryan my favourite to win the men's Rumble, I have opted to take a gamble on Smackdown to go 2-0 in Rumble matches in another special.
The reason why I've taken the 9/4 for the blue brand to go 2-0 is because I like Bianca Belair's chances of winning the women's Royal Rumble.
Belair - who is now also a favourite to win the match with all firms - has been a name I've been gambling on since the markets were first installed last spring. I count seventeen open bets (some were free wagers), spread out across the months, on Belair ranging from 16/1 to 4/1.
Even though I've backed Belair, I have wagers on some of the other possible entrants. The one selection I strongly believe that could come in and ruin all of my Belair punts is Rhea Ripley who - after losing to Raquel Gonzalez on this past Wednesday's episode of WWE NXT - is reportedly on her way to the main roster.
With Ripley's arrival imminent, I have also placed a small wager on the 5/2 for 'Any Other Brand/Free Agent Wins At Least 1 (Royal Rumble) Match' just to hedge in case my prediction that Smackdown goes 2-0 turns out to be a bad call.
I have also gambled on Kambi's Rumble entry specials.
If Daniel Bryan is winning the match, I would have him start out early. Therefore, I have backed whoever will be declared the winner of the men's Royal Rumble to enter the match in 'Under 18.5' position in the entry order over/under market from Kambi.
As for the women's market - I decided to avoid gambling over or under the line of 23.5 because I could see it going either way (Bianca 'Under 23.5', Ripley 'Over 23.5') so took a stab in the dark and backed the eventual winner to draw an even number.
By doing that, I cover Rhea Ripley potentially being a 'surprise' thirtieth entrant and, if I am right about Belair, just have to hope she is entered with an even number.
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