With it now being less than twelve hours before New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 17 showing starting, I have made yet another visit to the BetOnline markets for most of the matches on the card.
Here is a look at all of the markets you can find on the website along with some observations I have made over the past few months I've been following the markets.
In order of match listing on the NJPW website, we have..
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match will see this year's winners of the Super Jr. Tag League - Lio Rush and Yoh (representing the CHAOS faction) taking on Francesco Akira and TJP (Catch 2/2 from United Empire).
When I first began to follow betting on this specific match, the challengers were listed as +200 underdogs. Their odds have declined and are currently into +150 after spending a short period at +175.
A win for the titleholders will now pay out at odds of -215. They were initially favoured at a shorter -300.
IWGP Women's Championship
Kairi will make her first defence of the IWGP Women's Championship which was won late last year. As you can see, the champion started off as a -400 favourite over Tam Nakano. Her price has since slid into -5,000. It might be a coincidence, but it seems the descent began as soon as there were rumours of Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks in WWE) showing up at the Tokyo Dome to set up a meeting between her and Kairi.
With Kairi a -5,000 favourite, the bookmakers list her challenger at +1,000. This number is up from the initial +250.
IWGP Tag Team Championship
FTR have flipped from favourites to underdogs for their IWGP Tag Team Championship defence against the team of YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto (Bishamon).
As you'll be able to view, in the table below, FTR were initially -200 favourites when I began tracking the betting on this market on December 19th. Their opponents, on the other hand, kicked off at +150.
The champs fell into -350 after a few days. However, Bishamon - who were moved to +225 when FTR was backed - began to dip and is now, as of this morning, -140 faves.
The titleholders to retain with the W is now priced +100.
NJPW World TV Championship Final
BetOnline listed Zack Sabre Jr as a -500 favourite to be the first-ever NJPW World TV Champion when his final against Ren Narita (+300) was first priced up in November.
Narita's odds were halved within a day and were then placed at +140 on November 25th.
The two selections remain at those respective numbers as of this evening's visit.
NEVER Openweight Championship
WWE's Karl Anderson, who is still the NEVER Openweight Champion, is currently a +1,000 underdog for his meeting with Tama Tonga (-5,000).
The market initially had Anderson at +250, so the punters are obviously punting on the title switch.
Tonga was -400 to start off.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship 4-Way
When the market for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship four-way was installed in October, BetOnline had champion, Taiji Ishimori, a -200 favourite followed by El Desperado (+250), Hiromu Takahashi (+350) and Master Wato (+650).
Since then, Takahashi has replaced Desperado as second-favourite while Wato's odds have been snipped into +600.
Ishimori is now -140 to retain with the decision. The early second-favourite, Desperado, has moved out to +275.
IWGP US Heavyweight Championship
The Will Ospreay .vs. Kenny Omega match, for Ospreay's IWGP US Heavyweight Title, listed the champ as a -300 favourite over Omega's +200 on November 23rd.
The following afternoon, I noticed that BetOnline had lowered Omega's price into +180 and moved Ospreay up to -250. However, by November 29th, Ospreay and Omega were back at their initial prices.
On New Year's Eve, I found Ospreay's price had fallen into -325 but - when I visited this morning - I once again noticed the champ at -300.
Omega is back to +200. He had spent a couple of days at +215.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
The result I have the most interest in is the one for the main event. The reason why is because I felt that BetOnline had initially set the incorrect favourite and underdog when they created the market in October.
Starting off as a +160 underdog, Kazuchika Okada is now a -700 favourite to get a decision over the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion - Jay White (+400).
BetOnline listed White as a -220 fave back in October. His odds have increased due to Okada's slide.
As I wrote in previous Wrestle Kingdom 17 posts, I strongly believe the challenger will be victorious tomorrow simply because the tone and focus of Okada's promos and interviews for the match have been about honouring Antonio Inoki and leading New Japan into a new era.
I don't believe the company would set this mission statement only to have a gaijin, in Jay White, win the main event.
I aim to be back tomorrow with a shorter update either before, or shortly after, the event has started.
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