Austin's Rumble Winner Odds Decline

Sports betting firms have slashed 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's odds to win the Royal Rumble following a report that World Wrestling Entertainment has offered him a big money deal to wrestle Roman Reigns.

Sean Ross Sapp, from Fightful.com, relayed the news yesterday evening. It caused a flurry of price changes across betting websites that had Austin as a selection in their respective Rumble markets.

William Hill had Austin at 100/1 since I first came across its market over the summer. right through to yesterday evening However, as of the time of writing, he is 6/1 in the running behind Cody Rhodes (4/6), Sami Zayn (5/2) and The Rock (9/2).

Paddy Power and Sky Bet have also dropped Austin into fourth place in their markets with the former offering 4/1 while Sky Bet has the Texas Rattlesnake at 12s.

Earlier today, on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer brought up the reports. However, he stated that Austin was originally offered a match against Brock Lesnar. 

The newsletter editor pointed out that there may have been a change considering Lesnar made another return to WWE - on last night's Raw - and it appears as though he's destined to resume his feud with Bobby Lashley after causing Lashley to lose against Austin Theory in the main event.

In mid-November, a workout video of Steve Austin circulated across the Internet. After seeing it, and knowing the Royal Rumble was scheduled for the Alamodome - the site of his first Royal Rumble win in 1997, I took a small gamble at 100/1 and - other than telling family and friends about it - I didn't think any more of the wager until last night.

Across the past year, I've also backed The Rock (12/1), Cody Rhodes (11/2), Sami Zayn (40/1) and - what seems to be my annual gamble - John Cena (25/1). 

As of right now, I hope one of those names ends up with the W.