NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 Betting Favourites

Here are the betting favourites for today's NJPW Wrestle Kingdom event from the Tokyo Dome.

All of the selections are ranked in order of strength starting with the wrestler with the shortest odds.

• Tetsuya Naito
• Kazuchika Okada
• David Finlay
• Yota Tsuji
• Shingo Takagi
• Zack Sabre Jr.
• House of Torture
• Guerrillas of Destiny
• Hiromu Takahashi
• Catch 22

As of the time of writing, it's 6:38AM GMT and the BetOnline still has a market for the Okada .vs. Bryan Danielson match. Here is as a table showing the odds changes I've noted throughout the market's existence.

The odds were available from The BetOnline Sportsbook.

A Look Over BetOnline's WrestleKingdom 18 Markets

With NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 taking place early tomorrow, I have gone through all of my notes from the betting markets for the event to share with you all the things I've noticed since the markets were published last year.

In this post, I'll go through the card in its potential order and show you who are the favourites, underdogs and possibly the punters' picks to win.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The winners of last year's Super Jr Tag League - Catch 22 - were installed as underdogs when betting for their title challenge against Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney from Bullet Club.

As you'll be able to see, the wagering has sided with Francesco Akira and TJP because their odds have recently fallen into favouritism. They're currently -150.

The titleholders, despite starting out as -350 faves, are now out to +110.

NJPW World TV Championship
NJPW World TV Champion - Zack Sabre Jr. - is favourite to retain his strap with NJPW's newest president - Hiroshi Tanahashi.

ZSJ was -140 when I first started to follow this market on November 15th. However, on New Year's Day, I noticed the favourite's price had dipped into -200.

A decision for Tanahashi is currently priced at +150. It was +100 in mid-November.

Yota Tsuji .vs. Yuya Uemura 
A market for the Yota Tsuji .vs. Yuya Uemura singles match has recently been installed with the former a -350 favourite over the +225 for Uemura.

House of Torture .vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Shota Umino
Another new market on the board is for the tag team match which will see EVIL and Ren Narita - from House of Torture - take on NOAH's Kaito Kiyomiya and NJPW's rising star - Shota Umino.

The bookies have the House of Torture representatives -200 faves to the +150 for Kyomiya and Umino.

In my opinion, the traders should have Kiyomiya and Umino favoured here.

NEVER Openweight Championship
Shingo Takagi has been a -300 favourite to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship with a decision over Tama Tonga since mid-November.

A win for the challenger will pay out at odds of +200

IWGP Tag Team and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship

In this match, the winning team will leave with both the IWGP Tag Team and Stong Openweight Tag Team Championships.

The current holders of the IWGP Tag Team Championship - Bishamon (YOSHI-Hashi and Hirooki Goto) - have been dipping this week with their odds moving in from +150 into +130 sometime before New Year's Day and has since been snipped into +100.

The team of El Phantasmo and Hikuleo remain favourites despite their odds moving up from -200 to -140 in this period.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
The BetOnline customers appear to be siding with El Desperado to get a win over the current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion - Hiromu Takahashi.

As you'll see, in the table below, the challenger's odds were at +150 on November 15th, but were reduced into +120 by December 22nd. Then - on December 27th - they were at +110 and now, as of today, they've descended into -120.

Takahashi remains a favourite. However, it's barely because he is at -130 after starting out -200 in November.

3-Way For IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
A new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion will be crowned in this match featuring ONE permanent New Japan Pro Wrestling roster member.

This market opened shortly before it was announced that Will Ospreay was set to sign for All Elite Wrestling. Following that news being revealed, Ospreay's price to win this match went out from -120 favourite and has been as high as +800.

David Finlay's odds plummeted from +200 into -1,250 following the Ospreay news but have since moved up to -1,000 due to some possible interest coming in on an Ospreay win because the Ospreay selection was taken off the board on December 30th and had returned the following day at a shorter +500 from its previous +800.

The third man in the match - Jon Moxley - has risen from +350 to +800.

Kazuchika Okada .vs. Bryan Danielson
The odds for a Kazuchika Okada win over Bryan Danielson have been backed from -400 all the way down into -2,000 between November 15th and New Year's Day.

This one-way traffic, likely because Danielson scored a win over Okada when they met in the main event of AEW Forbidden Door last June, has seen Danielson drift from +250 to +700 in this period.

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Tomorrow's main event will see IWGP World Heavyweight Champion - SANADA - defend his title against G1 Climax winner - Tetsuya Naito.

The challenger has been backed from -1,000 into -5,000 between November and this week.

As a result of Naito's price dropping across those weeks, his former LIJ stablemate has been pushed up from +500 to +900.

I should be back in time for the start of the event with all of the closing favourites. Until then, you can check the latest odds by visiting BetOnline's website below.

View BetOnline's Pro Wrestling Page

BetOnline Publishes NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 Markets

BetOnline has published markets for the seven matches that have so far been announced for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18.

The event will, as per usual, take place on January 4th. 

The main event should see Tetsuya Naito challenge SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship although I read an article a few days ago which stated that Kazuchika Okada has suggested there be a vote to allow fans to choose if SANADA .vs. Naito or Okada .vs. Bryan Danielson headlines the show. 

Whether anything comes of that is yet to be seen. 

As for the title match - the oddsmakers have placed this year's G1 Climax winner as a -1,000 favourite. A win for SANADA will pay out at odds of +500.

A decision for SANADA would not surprise me even though I think Naito is fairly set as the fave. What I am trying to articulate is I believe SANADA's odds are far too high as the underdog.

Since becoming champion, SANADA has defended the strap against most of his former Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemates. Naito would be the end boss of sorts.

The other match that is vying for the main event, if we're to believe there will be a fan vote, has Okada at -400 to Bryan Danielson's +250.

The last time the pair wrestled against each other in a singles contest was at Forbidden Door in June. On that night, Danielson went over.

The rest of BetOnline's Wrestle Kingdom markets look like this:

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Bullet Club WarDogs (Champion) -350
Catch 22 +225

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Hiromu Takahashi (Champion) -200
El Desperado +150

Triple Threat Title Match
Will Ospreay (IWGP US/UK Heavyweight Champion) -120
David Finlay +200
Jon Moxley +350

NEVER Openweight Championship
Shingo Takagi (Champion) -300
Tama Tonga +200

NJPW World TV Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. (Champion) -140
Hiroshi Tanahashi +100

View BetOnline's Pro Wrestling Markets

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 Betting Favourites

All but one of the BetOnline Sportsbook's markets for today's NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 event have now closed. 

Here are the closing favourites in order of strength starting with the selections which had the shortest odds.

• Kairi
• Tama Tonga*
• Kazuchika Okada
• Will Ospreay
• Catch 2/2 (TJP and Francesco Akira)
• Zack Sabre Jr.
• Taiji Ishimori 
• Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI)

*The BetOnline website is still listing the market for Karl Anderson .vs. Tama Tonga because it has been set to close at 9AM GMT whereas the rest had been set for a 7:00AM cut-off.

View BetOnline's Pro Wrestling Markets

A Look At BetOnline's Wrestle Kingdom 17 Betting Markets

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.

On New Year's Eve, I noticed that ZSJ had dropped into -200 from -180 with Narita moved back up to +150. 

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. 

View BetOnline's Pro Wrestling Markets

More Wrestle Kingdom 17 Betting Markets Published

The oddsmakers from BetOnline have published markets for the new matches that have been announced for January 4th's NJPW Wrestle Kingdom.

Kairi, who was crowned the first-ever IWGP Women's Champion at Historic X-Over a few days ago, will defend her title against Tam Nakano in the Tokyo Dome event. 

As of the time of writing, BetOnline has the champion as a -400 favourite. A decision in favour of her challenger will pay out at odds of +250.

Another first-time champion will be crowned in as many weeks when the tournament final - for the NJPW World Television Championship - will also take place on January 4th. 

The finalists, Zack Sabre Jr. and Ren Narita, are -500 and +300 respectively.

Also at the recent Historic X-Over show was a segment which saw Kenny Omega make a video challenge to Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Championship.

Omega, who last competed for New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom 13 - on January 4 2019 - has been priced as the bookmakers' underdog at odds of +200 while the champion has a price of -300.

These markets have been added to BetOnline's coverage which began in October when markets for two of the earliest announced matches were created.

As of the time of writing, Taiji Ishimori remains a -200 favourite to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match in a four-way with El Desperado, Hiromu Takahashi and Master Wato as his challengers.

There has been a change in roles in the market for the main event.

When the market for Jay White's IWGP World Heavyweight Championship defence against G1 Climax winner - Kazuchika Okada - was first priced up, BetOnline listed the champ as its favourite. 

As you can see, Kazuchika Okada has gradually fallen into favouritism. As noted, when I first wrote about the market on October 19, I gave reasoning for my belief that Okada should have been installed as the fave, so seeing his price descend from +160 into -180 over the five weeks has not surprised me. Especially if the punters shared the same opinion as I in regards to who should have been the early favourite and underdog.

View BetOnline's Pro Wrestling Markets

New Crown Jewel 2022 And Wrestle Kingdom 17 Markets Published

More WWE Crown Jewel betting markets have been created by the oddsmakers from BetOnline. As well as that, the company has installed its first markets for next year's NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17.

On Monday night, it was confirmed that The O.C. will take on The Judgment Day in a six-man tag team match on the Crown Jewel card. As of right now, the bookies have the former as -400 favourites while a win for Finn Balor, Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio would pay out at +250.

Also on Monday night, WWE added Brock Lesnar .vs. Bobby Lashley to the November 5th show. 

The former WWE United States Champion - Lashley - is a +250 underdog while Lesnar is -400.

The market for Roman Reigns .vs. Logan Paul is still showing the same pricing as when it was first released last month with the WWE Universal Champion a -5,000 fave to Paul's +1,000.

Now, onto BetOnline's NJPW markets.

In the first, NJPW Junior Heavyweight Champion - Taiji Ishimori - is favoured to retain his title in the four-way. He's -200 and is followed by El Desperado (+250), Hiromu Takahashi (+350) and Master Wato (+650) in the running.

In my opinion, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion - Jay White - is a surprising favourite to beat Kazuchika Okada in the main event.

BetOnline has White at -220 and the challenger at +160.

The January 4th event is being held in honour of Antonio Inoki and the promos done by Okada for the event have focused on him wanting to be the standard bearer of a new era for NJPW following Inoki's passing.

To be quite frank, he already has been one of the leaders of a post-Inoki era for New Japan. But, if that's the way NJPW wants to spin it for Wrestle Kingdom 17 and beyond, it makes sense for Okada to be the person who wins on January 4th. I believe the company wouldn't do a mission statement like that and then have a gaijin (Jay White) walk out of the Tokyo Dome as the champ.

WWE's Crown Jewel event is scheduled for November 5th while NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 will take place from the Tokyo Dome on January 4 2023.

View BetOnline's Pro Wrestling Markets

How Kambi Settled Its Wrestle Kingdom 16 Observer Star Ratings Markets

Kazuchika Okada's successful IWGP World Heavyweight Championship defence against Will Ospreay - in the main event of night two of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 - was the match which scored the most stars in Dave Meltzer's review published in the most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Scoring five-and-three-quarter stars, the match was one star ahead of Okada's title win over Shingo Takagi which headlined night one and was the second-best contest over the opening two nights.

With all the star rating results confirmed, following the issue's release last week, Kambi has settled all of the markets that had been released for the show.

Firstly, the ''Exact Star Rating of the Highest Rated Match' outright special had 'Over 5.25 Stars' as the winning selection. It was 13/10 along with 'Exactly 5.25 Stars' while 'Under 5.25 Stars' was a losing 11/10 favourite.

Okada's two matches were matched together in a head-to-head. As you'll see, in the table below, the winning selection 'Day 2 IWGP Heavyweight Championship' won at odds of 7/10.

The two bouts were also a part of a prop bet which asked whether they would each score at least five stars or more in the review. With Takagi versus Okada falling a quarter short of the prerequisite number, 'No' was the winning selection as an 11/20 favourite over the 5/4 for 'Yes'.

With the one-star gap between the highest rated and second-best match, Kambi settled the Margin of Victory' prop with 'Yes' as the winning selection. In this proposition, customers were asked whether there would be a difference of half-a-star or higher between the first and second highest rated matches in Dave Meltzer's review. The winning selection was 19/20 to the 3/4 for 'No'.

A third prop, which asked whether there would be 'Joint Winners' for match of the event, was settled with 'No' graded as the correct pick as a 4/9 favourite. Its opposition - 'No' - was 6/4.

Kambi also had a selection of Over/Under markets for the matches that were scheduled for the two nights. Here are their results:

If you use the above table as a guide, you can also work out how three remaining head-to-head markets were settled. All were won by the respective favourites.

El Desperado's successful defence of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship over Hiromu Takahashi scored four-and-a-quarter stars and beat the Tetsuya Naito versus Jeff Cobb bout which received three-and-three-quarters.

Hiroshi Tanahashi's IWGP US Heavyweight Championship win over KENTA was graded four stars. It beat the EVIL versus Tomohiro Ishii match for the NEVER Openweight Championship match, which was given just one star from the editor.

CHAOS' title win over Dangerous Tekkers - for the IWGP Tag Team Championship - was given four-and-a-quarter stars in the review. It beat the SANADA versus Great-O-Khan match by one star.

Kambi's Pro Wrestling Odds

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 2 Betting Favourites

Here are the betting favourites for the second night of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 as the main part of the show was about to begin.

The selections appear by their scheduled match order.

Just like yesterday, it looks like Kambi's markets will be open throughout the show. I'll put the match result next to each selection once a winner has been determined.

Flying Tiger (Tiger Mask and Robbie Eagles) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship three-way (Result: Flying Tiger)

Toru Yano was favourite to win the King of Pro Wrestling 4-Way (Result: Minoru Suzuki)

House of Torture over CHAOS in the NEVER 6-Man Tag Championship contest (Result: House of Torture)

SANADA over the Great-O-Khan (Result: SANADA)

Tetsuya Naito is favoured over Jeff Cobb (Result: Naito)

KENTA is favoured to successfully retain the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship over Hiroshi Tanahashi (Result: Tanahashi)

As for the main event, the market which has been available since September - which asks who will leave the show with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship - has whittled down to today's main eventers: Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay.

Okada is favourite to retain.

Main Event Result

Kazuchika Okada won the main event.

A couple of hours after publishing this post, I revisited Kambi's market and noticed that Okada's odds to leave the bout with the strap had lowered from the previous price of 1/2 into 2/7 while Ospreay - who was 7/5 earlier this morning - had drifted to 9/4.

The updated table can be viewed below.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 1 Betting Favourites

Here are the betting favourites for the opening night of this year's NJPW Wrestle Kingdom as the show was about to start.

The selections appear in order of the scheduled match order using the odds that were available from Kambi. Results will appear in parenthesis as the show is in progress.

SHO over Yoh (Result: Yoh won)

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Rocky Romero over Bullet Club (Result: Bullet Club by DQ)

Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb over LIJ (Result: United Empire)

EVIL over Tomohiro Ishii (Result: EVIL)

YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto over Dangerous Tekkers (Result: YOSHI-HASHI and Goto)

Hiromu Takahashi over El Desperado (Result: El Desperado)

Kazuchika Okada over Shingo Takagi (Result: Okada)

It looks like the markets will be available throughout the show.

View Kambi's Pro Wrestling Markets

Kambi's G1 Climax 31 Match Markets For Nights 1 And 2 Published Plus More

Match markets, for the opening two nights of this year's New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax tournament, have been published by the oddsmakers from Kambi.

All ten matches have been priced up with some attractive prices for underdogs when you consider that there have been upsets on opening nights in the history of the tourney. Especially recent history.

Below are the prices for the bouts for both nights.

Night 1

Kota Ibushi 2/13

Yujiro Takahashi 7/2

Great-O-Khan 7/20

Tanga Loa 19/10

KENTA 11/25

Toru Yano 8/5

Tetsuya Naito 1/3

Zack Sabre Jr 2/1

Shingo Takagi 1/2

Tomohiro Ishii 7/5

Night 2

EVIL 1/4

Yoshi-Hashi 5/2

Jeff Cobb 2/13

Chase Owens 7/2

SANADA 1/5

Tama Tonga 3/1

Taichi 11/25

Hirooki Goto 8/5

Kazuchika Okada 13/25

Hiroshi Tanahashi 13/10

The underdogs I've gambled on are:

Zack Sabre Jr. to beat Naito -with Naito as the favourite to win A Block, he can afford to stumble in the early stage. The scenario, of ZSJ scoring an opening match upset against Naito, has been done in the past, though.

Tomohiro Ishii to beat Shingo Takagi - a win for Ishii could set up a challenger for Takagi's IWGP World Heavyweight Championship sometime between October and the end of this year. Another thing a win for Ishii would do is have the champion starting out the tournament with a mountain to climb before making it to the final. More on that later.

Yoshi-Hashi over EVIL - I'm not completely sure whether I like this option or not, but felt that 5/2 was worth a small punt. One of Hashi's two wins from last year was on the opening night against SANADA. So, he has played opening night spoiler before.

Tama Tonga over SANADA - I placed an even lower stake bet on this one. At 3/1, I thought Tonga was worth a shout because of how SANADA lost early bouts last year, but managed to come back and make it to the final. 

In the most recent post in which I wrote about the G1 Outright markets, I noted that I had doubts about my early pick - SANADA. The reason why I have trepidations about his chance of winning the tournament is because of who he is scheduled to face in the final night of B Block's matches. 

A SANADA versus EVIL bout was done in 2020. It saw SANADA get the win - and the two points - to send him to the top of the Block. 

It feels somewhat repetitive to do that scenario again. I am entertaining the thought that EVIL could spoil his former Los Igobernables de Japon stablemate's chance of a second consecutive G1 final.

While looking through discussions about the matches, I came across a suggestion that Shingo Takagi should win the tournament, It made me think about it and a lot of things clicked.

Takagi won the title in a decider against Kazuchika Okada after the previous champion - Will Ospreay - had to relinquish it due to injury. 

If Takagi were to win the tournament, he'll get to choose his opponent for Wrestle Kingdom. It seems like an ideal opportunity to have Takagi pick Will Ospreay for January to put things back on track: either Ospreay regains the strap or Takagi beats the person who never lost the title in the ring.

Ospreay has been declaring himself the true champion since returning from his injury, so a Shingo Takagi versus Will Ospreay match is definitely going to happen sooner or later. It just seems so perfect to do it with Takagi winning the G1 and declaring Ospreay as his challenger for January 4th.

In Block A winner betting, Takagi has remained a 7/4 second-favourite while KENTA (6/1 into 5/1) and Tomohiro Ishii (20/1 to 12/1) have had their prices shortened.

Takagi's price to be the outright winner of the G1 is also unchanged from when it was first made available. He's in joint-third along with Kazuchika Okada at 7/2.

For what it's worth, EVIL (10/1 into 7/1), KENTA (15/1 into 13/1), Hiroshi Tanahashi (25/1 into 20/1) and Ishii (33/1 into 25/1) have all declined.

As far as the Wrestle Kingdom market is concerned, Takagi remains a 5/2 favourite to leave the three-night event with the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Ospreay, who was previously a joint 5/2 favourite, with the current champ, has risen slightly to 3/1.

View Kambi's Pro Wrestling Markets

Kambi Releases G1 Climax 31 And Wrestle Kingdom 16 Markets

Betting markets for this year's NJPW G1 Climax tournament, as well as January's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event, were published by Kambi yesterday.

There are three markets for the G1. The first two allow customers to gamble on who they believe will win each of the two blocks while the third is an outright winner market.

The market for Wrestle Kingdom 16 asks customers who will be the holder of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the close of the three-night event.

Yes, three nights.

Kambi lists Tetsuya Naito as a 13/10 favourite to win A Block. When the blocks were first announced over the weekend, Naito was the first person I predicted could win the block.

The reason why I chose Naito for A Block is because I am once again siding with SANADA to win the tournament. He's in B Block and is, unsurprisingly, the favourite to win the group.

I figured that there is a story to tell if Tetsuya Naito and SANADA are the two finalists as the two Los Ingobernables de Japon members would be competing for the opportunity to challenge fellow stablemate - Shingo Takagi - for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 16.

As you can see, SANADA is 6/5 in the B Block betting market.

Earlier today, New Japan announced the matches for each night of the tournament. The final batch of B Block contests have forced me to reconsider my SANADA pick even though I have been gambling on him to be a G1 winner since 2019.

The B Block finale in 2020 saw EVIL lose to SANADA. This led to the latter securing enough points to close the table as B Block winner and meet A Block winner - Kota Ibushi - in the final.

This year, EVIL and SANADA are once again set to meet on the last night of block matches. My gut instinct is telling me that EVIL could play spoiler, thus ruining SANADA's chance of winning the block leading to Kazuchika Okada, who'll meet Jeff Cobb that same night  - or maybe EVIL himself - taking B Block.

At a price of 2/1, SANADA is Kambi's favourite to be the outright winner.

The Wrestle Kingdom 16 titleholder special lists the current champ - Shingo Takagi - as a 5/2 joint-favourite to leave the event with the strap. Previous champ, Will Ospreay, is also 5/2.

The two faves are followed by top three selections in the G1 Climax tournament winner outright. Kazuchika Okada, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito are available at 9/2 each.

View Kambi's Pro Wrestling Markets

How Kambi Settled Its NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15 Observer Markets

With the current issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter containing Dave Meltzer's reviews of the two nights of New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 15 event, the oddsmakers from Kambi have settled all of the star ratings betting markets.

All but one of the matches over the two nights had star ratings over/under markets published. Of the twelve markets, only one fell below the line. The match in question was from night one which saw Hiromu Takahashi beat El Phantasmo to secure an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match against Taiji Ishimori.

Meltzer graded El Phantasmo .vs. Takahashi four stars. This was three quarters of a star below the line.

As you can see - the highest amount of stars given to a match, or in this case; matches - by Meltzer in his coverage of the event was five-and-a-quarter stars with Kazuchika Okada versus Will Ospreay from night one and the main event of night two both sharing the honours for match of the event.

'Exactly 5.25 Stars' was the winning selection in the 'Exact Star Rating Of Highest Rated Match' special. The price was 43/20.

A 'Match To Be Awarded Highest Rating' head-to-head, which saw Okada versus Ospreay against all other matches over the two nights was settled with 'Same Star Rating' being graded as the winning selection due to Kota Ibushi versus Jay White tying with it with the aforementioned five-and-a-quarter stars.

Kambi has also settled six proposition markets. Below is an image with the results and then, underneath the picture, you'll see explanations as to what needed to happen for the bets to be settled.

Classic Final?
The 'Classic Final' prop asked customers whether or not the main event of night two would receive at least five stars from Dave Meltzer. 'Yes' won as EVS with the Ibushi/White match getting the five-and-a-quarter.

Double 5+?
'Yes' was a 2/1 winning selection in the market which asked customers whether any participant would receive at least five stars twice over the two nights. The wrestler who qualified for this was Kota Ibushi. Not only did he get five-and-a-quarter stars for his match against Jay White, his title win over Tetsuya Naito on January 4th scored five stars from Meltzer.

Highest Wrestle Kingdom Star Rating Record Broken?
In the prop, customers were asked whether or not the record for the most stars given to a match on a Wrestle Kingdom card would be broken. 'No' was the winning selection, as a 1/10 favourite, because the number to beat was six stars which was awarded to the six stars Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega received for their contest at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

All-Time Star Rating Record Broken?
'No' won as a 1/20 favourite in the prop which asked whether a match on the card would beat the all-time star rating record. Seven stars was the number to overcome. This was once again awarded to Okada and Omega. This time it was for their meeting at Dominion 2018.

Joint Winners?
In the 'Joint Winners' market, customers were able to gamble on at least two matches sharing 'Match of the Event' honours. The winning selection, 'Yes', was a 19/10 underdog to the 7/20 for 'No'.

Margin Of Victory: 0.5 Stars
The prop titled 'Margin of Victory' allowed customers to gamble on the prospect of there being at least half a star between the highest rated match and the next best. 'No' won because two matches - Naito .vs. Ibushi and Shingo Takagi .vs. Jeff Cobb - both received quarter of a star less than the two that were rated the highest in Dave Meltzer's review.

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

Just like yesterday, I spent this morning watching the live coverage of day two of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15 and did so with an eye on the closing betting odds. 

Here are the results along with the early and late prices from Kambi.

4-Way For Provisional KOPW 2021 Trophy
The final four in the New Japan Rambo battle royal from yesterday met in a four-way match to determine the first provisional holder of the King of Pro Wrestling 2021 Trophy. 

Kambi placed the 2020 winner - Toru Yano - as a 4/6 favourite when its market was published yesterday. The second favourite was Bad Luck Fale (6/4). Following Fale was Bushi - at 6/1 - and Chase Owens at 8s.

The market was adjusted sometime between 10:45PM last night and 7:30AM GMT today with Bushi's odds lowered into 7/2 while Yano moved to 3/4 and Fale to 19/10. 

Owens stalled at 8/1.

The bout was won by the Yano.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

The bookmakers published a market for El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru's IWGP Junuor Heavyweight Tag Team Championship defence.

When the market was first installed on Boxing Day, the first sign of action appears to have gone the way of the challengers - Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato - as their price dipped from 11/10 into 21/20. The Suzuki-gun duo remained favourites to successfully retain their straps. However, their price was increased from 13/20 to 7/10.

Desperado and Kanemaru lowered into 3/5 by the morning of January 2nd and was then placed at 2/7 yesterday afternoon. Then - sometime before 7:35AM GMT this morning - the champs dropped once again when they became 1/4 favourites. They remained at those odds right up to match time.

Taguchi and Wato closed as 5/2 underdogs.

The late bettors were on the correct side as the champions retained.

NEVER Openweight Championship
Kambi's market for Shingo Takagi's NEVER Openweight Championship defence against Jeff Cobb was initially published on Boxing Day with the challenger a 7/10 favourite over Takagi's EVS.

The market remained stationary right up to yesterday when Cobb's price was reduced to 4/6 while Takagi rose to 27/25. The decline in favour of the challenger continued this morning when the fave dropped into 11/20.

Takagi was declared the winner after a brilliant match.

The result made sense to me - and I placed a couple of bets on Takagi since Boxing Day  - because I felt that, with the pandemic going on, I assumed NJPW wouldn't put a championship on a person who might not be permanently living in Japan and could face trouble getting in and out of the country with travel restrictions potentially getting in the way.

EVIL .vs. SANADA
The market for what I once guessed would be the main event of this year's event (I thought it would be SANADA as G1 Winner challenging EVIL for the titles) opened with both men at 17/20 when it was first published a day after Christmas.

From there, the odds for SANDA descended. 

The G1 Climax finalist was down to 4/5 by the evening of December 27th and was then at 7/10 on New Year's Eve. Cold Skull's odds were cut for a final time yesterday when they were placed at 8/13.

With SANADA's odds lowered in that period, his opponent went from the aforementioned 17/20 right up to 23/20.

The betting favourite was declared the winner. 

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
With Hiromu Takahashi confirmed as the challenger to Taiji Ishimori's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship following a win against El Phantasmo on day one, the oddsmakers from Kambi published a market for today's match yesterday. When it went live, the champ was a 7/4 underdog.

Takahashi won the match.

As you can see below, the eventual winner closed as a 1/3 favourite. He had started out at 2/5.

Kota Ibushi .vs. Jay White
There wasn't a straight match winner market for today's main event. 

With three potential names, that could have left today's event with the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships, Kambi created a market in November in which customers could gamble on who would be the titleholder at the conclusion of the two nights.

With Tetsuya Naito's loss on last night's card, his name was removed from the running leaving the new champion - Kota Ibushi - and the holder of the January 4th/5th title contract, Jay White.

When betting first started, both of today's competitors were available at 13/10 apiece. The then-champion, Naito, was 43/20.

Apart from a slight dip for White on January 3rd (when he fell from 2/1 into 7/4), the odds for Ibushi to be in possession of both straps at the conclusion of Wrestle Kingdom 15 fell from the aforementioned 13/10 into 1/5.

The favourite successfully retained his titles in what was a excellent main event to end this year's shows.

New Markets For Latest Additions To Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 2 Card

The oddsmakers from Kambi have published markets for matches that have been confirmed for tomorrow's second night of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15.

Before the official start of today's event, Bad Luck Fale, Bushi, Chase Owens and Toru Yano were the four finalists in the twenty-one man New Japan Rambo. Their 'win' means they'll square off in a four-way match on tomorrow's card where the victor will become the provisional holder of the King of Pro Wrestling 2021 Trophy.

2020 winner, Yano, is the betting favourite to win the match. He's 4/6. Bad Luck Fale is a second favourite at 6/4 while Bushi and Chase Owens follow at 6/1 and 8/1 respectively.

The Wrestling Observer star rating over/under for this contest has been set at one-and-three-quarter stars.

Another winner from today, who will progress to another key match tomorrow is Hiromu Takahashi. He will challenge Taiiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

As of the time of writing, the champ is 7/4 and the challenger is 2/5.

The star rating line for Ishimori .vs. Takahashi is four-and-a-half stars.

In today's main event. Kota Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito to become IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion. Going into today's event, Kambi had a market in which customers could gamble on who they believed would be the title holder at the end of the two nights. The market has now been adjusted with Naito no longer a runner.

The reason why this market existed is because Jay White, who won the contract to challenge the champion at Wrestle Kingdom from G1 Climax winner - Ibushi, chose the January 5th event for his title shot.

Ibushi is a 2/7 favourite to retain while White is 9/4. 

When the market was initially published - on November 14th - both men were available at 13/10 each while today's loser was 43/20.

An Observer over/under has been created for the confirmed match-up. It has a line of four-and-three-quarters.

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.