Dave Meltzer's reviews of both nights of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver were published in the most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Once the issue came out, Kambi's oddsmakers settled all of the star ratings betting markets that were available for the two-night special.
The big story coming out of the show, in regards to Meltzer's reviews, is that there was a three-way tie for best match over the two nights.
When the market for 'Highest Rated Match' was first installed, the oddsmakers had two 6/4 joint-favourites in Adam Cole .vs. Kyle O'Reilly and the 'NXT UK Championship' match which had Walter defend his strap against Tommaso Ciampa.
As you can see above, Cole versus O'Reilly fell into 5/4 favourite two days later.
Both of those matches received four-and-a-half stars in Meltzer's reports. The third match which was awarded four-and-a-half stars was the three-way for the NXT Tag Team Championship. Customers were offered 7/1 for that selection.
The three-way tie meant that the market would have been settled under the dead-heat ruling.
A prop market, which asked customers whether or not there would be 'Joint Winners', would have been settled with 'Yes' winning at odds of 7/5.
The two opening joint-favourites - in the 'Match of the Event' market - were both placed in one of Kambi's head-to-head specials in which customers were given the option to bet which of the two would receive the most stars in Meltzer's reviews.
With both matches tying, the winning selection - for this particular market - was 'Same Star Rating', which was 2/1.
The NXT Tag Team Championship match appeared in a head-to-head against the Pete Dunne .vs. Kushida match.
As you can see above, the bookmakers placed Dunne versus Kushida as the favourite. However, it was graded a quarter of a star less than the eventual winner, which was 5/4.
I'll return to more head-to-heads later in this post. For now, it's best to take a look over the most popular star ratings markets Kambi releases - the over/unders.
Kambi released over/under star ratings markets for all of the matches that took place over the two nights.
As you can see, in the table above, there were four matches which had their lines changed during the periods when betting was available.
The NXT Tag Team Championship three-way started off with a line of 4.25 Stars when the market was installed on March 25th. However, by April 2nd, the bookmakers had increased the line by a quarter. With the bout receiving four-and-a-half stars, the winning selections would have been both options to gamble on the 'or more'.
Night one's main event - which saw Raquel Gonzalez claim the NXT Women's Championship from Io Shirai - initially had a line of four stars. However, the line was also extended a quarter by April 2nd. Just like with the tag team three-way, the options to bet on 'or More' were the winning selections due to the bout receiving four-and-a-quarter stars in Dave Meltzer's review.
Another bout which saw its line increase was for Santos Escobar's ladder match win in the Cruiserweight Championship match against Jordan Devlin. The line was initially set at four-and-a-quarter stars, but was moved to 4.5.
Both options to bet under the lines turned out to be the eventual winners because Meltzer graded the match three-and-three-quarter stars.
Kambi began taking bets on Finn Balor's NXT Championship defence against Karrion Kross in March with a line of 4.25 Stars. However, by early April, the line was lowered into four stars.
The match received three-and-three-quarters from Meltzer. Therefore, the options to bet below the line turned out to be the correct plays.
With Dunne .vs. Kushida and Shirai .vs. Gonzalez each getting four-and-a-quarter stars, Kambi's oddsmakers settled the 'Margin of Victory' prop bet with 'No' winning as an 11/25 favourite.
In the prop, customers were asked whether there would be at least a difference of half-a-star between the top match - or matches - and the next best rating. The 'No' won because the margin was only a quarter.
Shirai and Gonzalez's four-and-a-quarter stars meant that the 'NXT Women Championship' match beat the 'NXT Championship' in another head-to-head.
The winning selection started out as a 7/10 favourite, but was moved to 21/20 within a day after Kambi cut the odds for the other two selections in the market.
Customers could have also found an over/under prop for the number of matches rated four stars above over the two nights.
In the first, Kambi asked whether night one would have over 3.5 matches rated four stars or higher. As you can see, in the table below, 'Yes' started out as a 4/5 favourite over the 9/10 for 'No'. Both selections ended up at 17/20 each when 'No' appeared to have been backed.
'Yes' was the winning selection in this proposition market with four out of the five matches being graded between 4.25 and 4.5 stars.
For the following night, Kambi asked its customers whether there would be three or more matches rated four stars or above.
'No' was the winning selection - as a 3/4 favourite - in this market due to the main event being the only match from Thursday to reach the required rating.
With five matches over both nights getting four stars plus, Kambi settled another one of its markets with 'No' as the winning selection.
In the 'Both Nights' prop, clients were asked to gamble on there being at least six matches that were graded four stars or higher across the two evenings. As there were only five, the winning selection did so as a 3/4 favourite.
The two nights squared off in the final head-to-head that was available for the event.
Night one had two of the three highest rated matches. The following night obviously had the third, so that means the winning selection in the matchbet was 'Same Star Rating'. The selection won at odds of 9/5.
With no match receiving five stars, the final prop market was settled with 'No' winning.
In the special, customers were asked 'Any Match To Be Award 5 Stars?'. The answer was 'No'. It won as a 13/25 favourite.
I'll return with another one of these star ratings markets when the next issue of the Observer is released as it will indicate how Kambi's WrestleMania 37 star ratings markets will be settled.
