G1 Climax 31 Betting: Night 16

B Block's penultimate night of this year's NJPW G1 Climax takes place today. As I've written in one of the recent posts, the oddsmakers from Kambi created match markets for today's card yesterday. Therefore - in today's post - I'll cover what the early and closing betting odds were as the show is in progress.

Before I get to today's matches, there is an update to be made regarding the B Block Winner market that was republished almost a day ago.

In THIS POST from yesterday, I pointed out that three names were left in the market which will pay out on whomever wins the block. The market was adjusted a couple of times following the post's release. All changes saw Kazuchika Okada's odds decline.

As you'll be able to see above, Okada was 4/9 when I visited the market at 1:15PM BST yesterday. He was then down to 2/5 a little over an hour later. The decline continued this morning when Kambi cut the favourite into 1/3.

With Okada moving in, his Night 18 opponent - Jeff Cobb, was pushed up from 19/10 to 5/2 with a stop at 21/10 sandwiched in-between.

EVIL, who will be eliminated from contention should he lose to Cobb today, has remained at 6/1 to take the block.

And now we reach today's show. As noted, the match to watch is the one between Jeff Cobb and EVIL. I strongly believe Cobb will fall here as it allows EVIL to have a chance going into B Block's final night.

A mild spotlight should shine on today's main event as the undefeated Kazuchika Okada is up against a strong betting underdog in Tama Tonga. Should Okada lose, following an EVIL win, then all three men still in with a chance of taking the block will enter October 20th's event with 14 points each. 

Taichi (4 points) .vs. Chase Owens (2 points)

Chase Owens beat Taichi to kick the block matches off.

Owens was initially priced a 5/2 underdog, but his odds were cut into 7/4 earlier this morning while Taichi was pushed up to 2/5 from 1/4 favourite.

I was one of the gamblers who backed Owens because I thought a decision in his favour would see a battle between two wrestlers on 4 points on the final night when he meets YOSHI-HASHI (For that to happen, I'd also need Hiroshi Tanahashi to win tonight).

Owens came to the ring with a t-shirt and tights dedicated to Bobby Eaton. The last time he worked a match as tribute to Eaton was against Tanahashi, so I felt slightly confident in the result from the start. The match saw Owens do an Alabama Jam on Taichi to highlight the  dedication to Eaton.

Hirooki Goto (4 points) .vs. SANADA (6 points)
SANADA defeated Hirooki Goto as a closing 1/4 favourite over Goto's 5/2. 

When the market opened yesterday, Kambi had the eventual winner at a slightly higher 2/5 while Goto was 7/4.

Hiroshi Tanahashi (6 points) .vs. YOSHI-HASHI (4 points)
Tanahashi won his match with YOSHI-HASHI. He was initially a 2/7 favourite, but fell into 1/5 this morning.

YOSHI-HASHI lost as a closing 3/1 underdog. 

Jeff Cobb (14 points) .vs. EVIL (12 points)
Cobb ended up winning the penultimate match of the night and will now go into the B Block final undefeated and will main event against Okada with the winner taking the block.

As I noted above, and in this post from yesterday, I thought EVIL would win this match. The betting evidently thought so as well because the eventual loser - who started at EVS - closed as an 11/20 favourite while Cobb started as fave, but was up to 5/4 when the market closed.

Kazuchika Okada (14 points) .vs. Tama Tonga (4 points)
My slight suspicion that Tama Tonga could be victorious tonight turned out to be accurate as he was declared the winner over Kazuchika Okada in today's main event.

Tonga started out as an 11/2 underdog, when Kambi opened its markets yesterday, however - before the start of today's show - his price was snipped into 4/1.

Okada was a 1/14 favourite initially, but was moved up to 1/8 when Tama Tonga's price was reduced.

Now that today's show has ended, B Block has the undefeated Jeff Cobb with 16 points. Right behind him is Okada on 14. Whoever wins - in their match next Wednesday - will take the block.