Royal Rumble '26 Betting Favourites

BetOnline's markets for the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble closed at 5:00PM GMT. 

Both of the Royal Rumble outright winner markets closed with odds-on favourites in Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan respectively. Each selection was -200 apiece.

Morgan was +2,500 when the market was first installed in early December. That was a little under a fortnight before she returned to WWE following her return from a summer injury.

The Judgment Day member found her way to the top of the market by January 4th. She remained at its peak through to today's close.

Roman Reigns has been a relatively consistent favourite in the market for the Men's Royal Rumble. However, were moments when he battled Bron Breakker for the top spot in the market. 

The two selections even flipped places today with Reigns moved into second-favourite this afternoon before he regained his spot from Breakker shortly before betting was suspended.

The closing favourite for the Undisputed WWE Championship match between Drew McIntyre and his challenger - Sami Zayn - was the former. However, it was clear from the betting that, Zayn was the public's favourite to go over in the match. 

As I've covered over the previous day (on Friday and this morning), the market for the AJ Styles .vs. Gunther match was taken off the board. The sportsbook noted that Styles had opened as a -200 favourite over Gunther's +300. However, when I came across the market, a week last Wednesday, Styles was a heavy -1,000 favourite while his opponent was +500.

BetOnline pointed to Styles trademarking at least a couple of monikers as to their reasoning for pulling the market. Before that, the sportsbook noticed customers 'hammering Gunther to win this match'.

In a potentially corelated incident, the sportsbook also removed Gunther from its Royal Rumble winner market, so customers were unable to bet on the Austrian since Monday of this week.

Liv Morgan, Roman Reigns, Gunther (over Styles) and McIntyre (over Zayn) remain favourites to win their respective matches in domestic Royal Rumble markets still available as of the time of writing.

BetOnline Explains Styles/Gunther Decision Plus More

BetOnline's PR team sent out an email to their contacts last night to explain something which was brought up in yesterday's post regarding the AJ Styles .vs. Gunther betting market that has been taken off the board.

In the post, I shared the match odds I was able to follow before betting was suspended. As you'll see in the table below, Styles was a -1,000 favourite over Gunther's +550 when I initially came across the market a week last Wednesday.

You'll also notice Gunther's odds were the only decreases I witnessed in the period before the book was shut on this particular match.

Jimmy Shapiro, who sends out BetOnline's press releases, noted that Styles had started off as a -300 fave to Gunther's +200 and that 'bettors at BetOnline.ag have been hammering Gunther to win'.

The spokesperson reasoned that the punters were backing Gunther in reaction to the news of AJ Styles independently trademarking a couple of monikers to use within the wrestling business leading some to see him setting those up to work outside of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Shapiro didn't mention another possible reason why the sportsbook's clients might be siding with Gunther over Styles.

Following his match against Styles on last week's Saturday Night's Main Event, Shinsuke Nakamura wrote a blog post about his friend and mentioned that - sometime in 2025 - Styles told Nakamura the Phenomenal One eyed the 2026 Royal Rumble as the venue where he would retire from WWE. 

That journal entry was later pulled.

Going by where the odds were when I began following the market, if Styles opened at -300 then the early bettors must have sided with the favourite early in the betting for the selection to be at -1,000 by the evening of January 21st.

Which leads me to something which was not addressed by BetOnline.

In yesterday's post, I pointed out that Gunther's selection has also been pulled from BetOnline's outright winner market for the Rumble.

The last sign I have of Gunther in the market is from Wednesday of this week. At that time, he was priced as a +200 second-favourite -  a position he had held since falling in from +1,400 in the opening days of 2026.

I have asked whether BetOnline has suspended Gunther from the market because they've corelated Gunther winning against Styles would also mean he would end up scoring a brace by outlasting the field in the battle royal later in the card.

As pointed out yesterday, it would be more logical for Gunther to somehow lose against Styles and then regain his heat by winning the Rumble later in the night. Of course, he could do both, but the former scenario makes the most sense if the plan is for Styles to continue his active career in WWE and for Gunther to be in one of the title bouts at WrestleMania.

European bettors can still find markets for the Styles .vs. Gunther match. For example, Sky Bet has Gunther favoured at 1/2 (-200 US) with Styles priced 11/8 (approximately +138 US).

Gunther's name still exists in the Rumble winner markets as well. He's generally found in fourth place at odds of around 9/1.

* * *

In a side note, I was forwarded the following image from a friend of the blog overnight.

It shows that BetOnline had taken Roxanne Perez off the board for a brief period and he happened to catch them at that time.

It's not abnormal to see this happen with betting websites when a selection is backed. However, something similar did occur with Jey Uso's selection on the Friday night heading into the 2025 Royal Rumble.

The bet/s have not affected Perez's odds. The selection has returned back to its position in the +6,600 range.

* * *

On Smackdown, an on-screen graphic that is used during the Royal Rumble match briefly popped up on screen.

The display showed Bron Breakker as entrant number one. 

If this was an unintentional mistake (this could be a plant to further the Adam Pearce .vs. Heyman/The Vision storyline), it suggests that the plan was for Breakker to start early (obviously!). I have checked the 'Most Eliminations' market on the BetOnline website and the graphic has caused Breakker's odds to oust the most participants to be halved from +400. 

It's interesting to see Breakker given that number, if true, because that would have meant he'd have shared that spot with his uncle - Scott Steiner - who was number one for the 1994 Royal Rumble. 

Breakker's father - Rick - entered in position three.

Oba Femi remains a favourite in this particular market.

Visit BetOnline's WWE Markets

Rumble '26 Odds And Musings

This week's episode of Smackdown, which will air from Saudi Arabia at 5PM GMT, could give us a few more clues for the Royal Rumble matches, but I thought I'd give myself a head-start on Rumble musings by doing my semi-annual posts where I look at the list of potential winners and  then say who I've gambled on.

Starting with the men's Rumble, the favourite from the start of betting remains the same - Roman Reigns. 

Reigns winning the Rumble does seem logical if we factor in the reports that one of the most earliest plans for this year's WrestleMania was for the OTC to challenge Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. That idea appears to have been iced following Rollins' shoulder injury, which was suffered at WWE Crown Jewel 2025. It resulted in the champion having to relinquish his title. It ultimately landed on CM Punk.

Therefore, with Punk replacing Rollins for the strap, would it not be reasonable to consider he also takes The Visionary's  place as Roman Reigns' WrestleMania dance partner?

BetOnline's current second-favourite is Sami Zayn. His placement is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, Zayn was moved into that position earlier this week when Gunther was taken off the board from BetOnline's Rumble winner market. 

The removal coincided with the firm taking down the Gunther .vs. AJ Styles market. As you'll see below, customers had been backing the Austrian to send AJ Styles into retirement. However, the entire market was removed on Sunday for no clear reason. Gunther was then removed from BetOnline's Rumble outright winner market within a day or so later.

To draw my own conclusions, I suspect the betting firm took late action on Styles winning the match against Gunther and then had money landing on Gunther to come back and win the Rumble in the main event.

A scenario like that was spitballed by Dave Meltzer on a recent edition of his Wrestling Observer Radio podcast. It would make sense because it would see Gunther lose and regain his heat close to instantly.

For what it's worth, however, European sportsbooks still have the market for the AJ Styles .vs. Gunther match. Gunther is odds-on to win. 

To compare the European outright Rumble winner markets - Gunther is fifth in the betting there. So, there is a contrast with how both the retirement match and Gunther's potential Rumble showing are represented between the two betting continents.

Sami Zayn being the second-favourite falls into, I suppose, a similar narrative. I suspect gamblers have been punting on Zayn to win the Royal Rumble with an idea that he'll fail in his quest to unseat Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship earlier in the night and then come back to be the last man standing in the battle royal.

With next year's WrestleMania set to emanate from Saudi Arabia, it seems to me that Zayn winning next year's Royal Rumble to set him up for the Mania 44 main event is a far superior story if the company wants to belt up Sami Zayn at one of these Saudi shows.

McIntyre is a short-priced favourite to successfully defend the strap tomorrow. He's currently 2/5 (-250 US) in Europe and an extremely priced -4,000 with BetOnline.

The champ had started at -5,000 but Zayn was backed down from +1.200 overnight.

Bron Breakker is a second-favourite with European bookies and is placed third in the running on the BetOnline website. The latter is intriguing because BetOnline's own research into the US public's interest in who will win the men's Royal Rumble has Breakker leading the pack.

Just like for previous major WWE PLEs, the team at BetOnline has geotagged data from the X social media platform to determine who the consensus are siding with.

Of the fifty US States, twenty are rooting for Bron Breakker per the rules of this project.

Speaking of X, it should be noted that the person in charge of the WrestleVotes account is on record as stating that Breakker was high on the list of potential winners from the WWE writers' room.

Remember above, when I wrote about Roman Reigns versus Seth Rollins as being one of the potential earlier plans for WrestleMania? Well, another one was Reigns challenging Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE Championship.

Now that Rhodes is no longer holding the strap, his odds to win his third Rumble in three years - after winning in 2023 and 2024 - have descended. He's currently a top price of 12/1 here in Europe (Betfred) and +475 with BetOnline. The selection is fifth in Europe and fourth with BetOnline.

If we're going by how Rhodes lost the title (Jacob Fatu interrupted the Three Stages of Hell match ultimately allowing McIntyre to escape and win the belt) and how his Saturday Night's Main Event match with Fatu didn't happen (McIntyre interrupted before the bell rang), I feel it's safe to conclude that those three will meet in a triple threat match somewhere on the road to WrestleMania if not at the event itself.

And for that, Jacob Fatu should become an important option for Rumble bettors. He is sixth in the running with both betting firms. The best available European price is the 14/1 from Star Sports. Fatu is less than half of that, at +600 (6/1 UK) with  BetOnline.

I've had a few Rumble punts over the past few months. Here's the list along with the odds.

Roman Reigns 17/2 - Placed in October. I suppose I was under the impression he would challenge Rhodes.

Austin Theory 50/1 - There's method to my madness. Remember when Theory was the masked man? Well, I thought they would tease it was Seth Rollins for longer than they did. I had enVISIONed the masked man being in the Rumble with the commentators suspecting it was Seth Rollins only for Theory to unmask once he had won it. Which leads me to....

Seth Rollins 20/1 - I put this bet on around the time when Bron Breakker was set to challenge CM Punk on the first Raw of 2026. I thought it was worth a gamble just in case they put the belt on Breakker.     This despite Rollins still being injured. Alas, the Breakker winning the belt part didn't happen.

Brock Lesnar 33/1 - Another one filed in the 'just in case Bron Breakker is the champion by Mania' drawer.

Jacob Fatu 20/1 - The most recent wager and one I would like to see come in the most. With that said, if the WrestleMania match for the undisputed WWE Championship is the McIntyre .vs. Rhodes .vs Fatu triple threat, I suspect WWE would rather have Roman Reigns win the Rumble so they can get a head-start plugging at least one of the main events for WrestleMania weekend.

It could obviously be Cody Rhodes winning the spot first, ahead of Jacob Fatu (if it's the match), but I think McIntyre telling Cody he had to get back in the line of challengers allows for Rhodes' journey to WrestleMania to see him get into the title match via the back door, if you will (please read that in a Dusty Rhodes voice!).

In regards to the women's Rumble, I believe the current favourite makes the most reason. That hasn't stopped me from hoping on another selection with longer odds, however.

Liv Morgan is the consensus betting favourite right now. As of today, BetOnline customers can find her odds-on at -125. She had started out in the +2,500 range at the bottom half of 2025.

Morgan was on my list of potential winners during the summer after she was shelved following an injury against Kairi Sane on Raw. I fancied the idea of Morgan coming back as a Rumble surprise and winning.  Instead, she returned in December and made it known her goal was to bring gold back to The Judgment Day faction.

The wrinkle to Morgan's current storyline is the fact that her ally, and Judgment Day stablemate, Raquel Rodriquez is currently feuding with Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer. 

Vaquer is scheduled to defend her strap against Rodriquez on the upcoming episode of Raw. Wouldn't it be even more interesting for Monday if the curiosity over the result of the title match has Morgan's Mania title choice looming over it?

Bianca Belair was the betting favourite before Morgan switched spots with her at the start of this year. Ironically, both appeared together on a Netflix commercial which began airing around Christmastime.

Belair does have a perfect storyline to return to should she win the Rumble. Her former tag team partner, Jade Cargill, is holding the women's title on Smackdown. 

Which leads to my longshot bet, which - if looking at current TV - doesn't seem that much of a longshot. 

Jordynne Grace has recently been brought up to the Smackdown brand from NXT (and TNA before that). Her very first interaction was with Cargill. On last week's episode of Smackdown, Grace announced she would be an entrant in the Rumble and once again set her sights on the holder of the WWE Women's Championship.

I have backed Grace at 50/1. She's currently available at 40/1 (Ladbrokes/Coral) in Europe while BetOnline lists Smackdown's newcomer at a whopping +6,600 (66/1 UK). 

As stated, Morgan makes the most sense considering Monday's match. Grace at those long odds, however?  I strongly believe Jordynne Grace's price should be shorter than they are considering she's in a storyline where the champ is ducking her challenges. 

Cargill vs Grace could simply end up being a TV match, or even something for the undercard of Elimination Chamber 2026, so maybe the bookmakers have Grace priced right.

We'll find out tomorrow. Hopefully not sooner.

Visit BetOnline's WWE Markets

How McIntyre's Title Win Could Impact Rumble Betting Markets

Drew McIntyre has become the new Undisputed WWE Champion after beating Cody Rhodes in the Three Stages of Hell match which took place in the main event of tonight's WWE Smackdown from Berlin, Germany.

The result could now impact betting markets for the Royal Rumble considering Cody Rhodes' new status.

In regards to Rhodes - Sky Bet is currently listing him at 9/1 to win the battle royal in three weeks from tomorrow. The former champ had been available at 25s a little over a month ago.

Advertised for next week's Smackdown are four qualifier matches. Each winner will then compete in a Fatal Four-Way match on the January 24th episode of Saturday Night's Main Event with the last man standing winning a shot against the champ a week later at the Rumble.

The bouts set for Wembley Arena next week are Damian Priest .vs. Solo Sikoa, Matt Cardona .vs. Trick Williams,  Randy Orton .vs. The Miz and Sami Zayn .vs. Ilja Dragunov.

Going by those names, and bearing in mind the strap is now held by a strong heel plus the Royal Rumble is taking place in Saudi Arabia, it would not surprise me to see Sami Zayn given the spot to challenge McIntyre for the title in front of an audience that would root for him in that position.

By process of elimination, Rhodes is evidently in the cold for now. Hence why he should become one of the potential betting favourites to win the thirty-man Rumble on January 31st.

However, it would be the third time in four Rumbles if such a result were to reoccur.

Drew McIntyre is currently no longer listed in Sky Bet's Rumble winner market even though he was there - at 14/1 - last month.

Another Raw Betting Market Released Plus More

The team of Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky are betting favourites to defeat The Kabuki Warriors for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on the first episode of WWE Monday Night Raw for 2026.

BetOnline sent out a release this evening noting that the challengers are -250 favourites over the +170 for Asuka and Kairi Sane.

The bout was confirmed for the January 5th show in a segment which aired on current edition of Raw. World Wrestling Entertainment is hyping up the upcoming card because it'll be the one-year anniversary of its move to Netflix.

Earlier this month, the oddsmakers from BetOnline put out a market in which customers could bet on the WWE World Championship match between CM Punk and his challenger - Bron Breakker.

As it currently stands, Punk is -300 to Breakker's +200.

The favourite's odds were shortened, from -150 sometime before 8:00pm GMT a week last Sunday. As you'll be able to view - in the table above - the early adjustments sided with the challenger because Breakker was backed from +135 into +110 within the first two days. 

Punk was a -175 favourite on December 2nd before rising to -150 and then halved.

In a correlated note, Bron Breakker remains a favourite to win the 2026 Royal Rumble on January 31st. However, his odds have drifted from +140 to +150 since Monday. That's likely due to a selection for CM Punk having been added to the Rumble market within the past day or so.

A Punk Rumble win is currently offered at +400 as a third-favourite with Roman Reigns (down into +290 from +300) sandwiched in-between the two January 5th opponents.

View BetOnline's WWE Markets

Bron Breakker Becomes Rumble '26 Favourite Plus More

There's a new favourite to win the men's 2026 WWE Royal Rumble in BetOnline's outright winner market for the January 31st battle royal.

Coinciding with reports that Bron Breakker is high on the list of potential winners, the odds for The Vision member were lowered from +275 into +135 over the weekend. This move sees Roman Reigns, who was at the top of the board with a price of +150 but now out to +200, replace Breakker as the sportsbook's second-favourite.

In what could be regarded as a correlated move, BetOnline's market for Breakker's January 5th title challenge against CM Punk has sided with the World Heavyweight Champion.

Punk, who was -175 when I wrote about the market last week, is now down to -300 in the match market for his title defence against Breakker which will air on the first WWE Monday Night Raw of 2026.

A decision for Breakker, initially priced at +135 before dipping into +110 a couple of days later, has now drifted to +200.

It's understandable to see the adjustments in both markets if you consider that - barring storyline twists - major titleholders are not participants of Royal Rumble matches. 

If Breakker really is the writers' favourite to win the Rumble, it should mean he won't leave the Punk match with the strap.

Over here in Europe, Roman Reigns is still an odds-on favourite - currently 5/6 - in the markets available from Betfair, Paddy Power and Sky Bet. However, Coral and Ladbrokes customers will find Breakker headlining those betting offices' WWE coverage at 2s with Reigns next up at 11/4.

In another BetOnline Royal Rumble note, the returning Liv Morgan has seen action in the market for the women's battle royal.

On December 2nd, the line for Morgan to be the outright winner was priced +2,500 but has now plummeted into +200 second-favourite. That's likely due to Monday's episode of Raw spotlighting Morgan's aim to bring gold back into the Judgment Day stable. 

Just like with BetOnline, Liv Morgan is second behind Bianca Belair with Betfair, Paddy Power and Sky Bet. Ladbrokes and Coral lists both ladies as joint-favourites in their market.

View BetOnline's WWE Markets

BetOnline Publishes WWE Markets For Key Events Of Early 2026

The oddsmakers from BetOnline have published a handful of betting markets for matches that are set for the first portion of 2026. 

As well as those, customers can also find a betting opportunity for a match that hasn't been set for 2026, but has certainly been teased.

On yesterday's edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, it was confirmed that Bron Breakker will challenge CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship on the first episode of WWE's flagship show of the new year.

As of the time of writing, BetOnline lists Punk as a -175 favourite to successfully retain the strap against his opponent. Those looking for Breakker to get the decision will currently find him at +135.

The bout will take place on January 5th. Later in that same month, Saudi Arabia will host the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble. There are markets for the two battle royals available as well.

At the top of the women's market is Bianca Belair, who is +105 to do what she did in 2021 and outlast the field to secure her place in one of the title matches at WrestleMania.

Belair hasn't been on TV since this year's WrestleMania. It is understandable to see the sportsbook hang her out as a favourite in the potential returnee wins the Rumble storyline that has been done many times in the past. 

BetOnline's favourite to win the men's Rumble is Roman Reigns. He's +150 with Bron Breakker, who could be champion if things go his way on January 5th, a +275 second-favourite ahead of other names like Seth Rollins (+400), Gunther (+500), Randy Orton (+700) through to 'Jimmy' (I surmise Uso and not Ron Killings' invisible little friend), the retired Bill Goldberg and 2012 Rumble victor - Sheamus - who are all +10,000 each.

Should the early favourite end up winning the match, Reigns will get to challenge for either the World Heavyweight Championship or Undisputed WWE Title. The latter is currently in the possession of Cody Rhodes.

Reigns/Rhodes III appears in the WrestleMania 42 page of the BetOnline website. The sportsbook has given Reigns -200 over Rhodes' +150 for the potential rubber match.

Just like this year, WrestleMania 42 is scheduled to emanate from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The two-night event kicks off on Saturday April 18th.

View BetOnline's WWE Markets

How Jey Uso And Charlotte Flair Were Backed Leading Into The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

It's almost twelve hours removed from the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble and one of the main talking points coming out of the event is Jey Uso's win and the odds potential gamblers could have found for him in the months, weeks and hours leading into the show.

As I mentioned in the most recent post, which was published shortly after the PLE ended, Uso was available at +1,800 in BetOnline's Rumble '25 outright markets on November 26th. 

His peak came on and around 25th January when BetOnline pushed the Jey Uso price up to +6,600. This coincided with Uso set to face Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship later that evening on Saturday Night's Main Event.

By Thursday of this week, Uso's price had dropped into +2,500 and then - sometime in the early hours of yesterday morning - his selection was backed again, forcing BetOnline's system to temporarily take Uso off the board before readjusting the eventual winner into +2,000.

Uso remained at +2,000 right through to the close of the market at 11PM GMT.

Following the result, I noticed speculation on social media that the 66/1 price may have been a 'record' for WWE betting. From the top of my head, I can recall Mansoor was also 66s to win the 50-man battle royal which took place at WWE Super Show-Down in 2019, so - Jey Uso's win at least tied THAT price.

But, just like with Uso last night, Mansoor's price was shorter by the time the market closed for that match.

The Women's Royal Rumble winner was easier to follow.

BetOnline's market for the female version of the match was installed in December. At the time I began to keep record of each selection, Charlotte Flair was a +275 joint second-favourite alongside Rhea Ripley (this was slightly over a month before Ripley regained the Women's World Championship). 

Unlike with Jey Uso's selection, which went up before a late drop, Flair's selection went in one direction - down. 

As you'll be able to see, by yesterday's closure, Flair was the odds-on favourite to win the match. Her price fell from +100 into -200 between the evening of Thursday 23rd January and the following afternoon. That would have been hours before Flair confirmed her place in the Rumble in a video which aired on the 24th January episode of Smackdown.

The final price I have for the eventual winner is -500. After starting out the final day of wagering at -375, Flair's selection fell into her closing number early yesterday evening and remained there until the 11PM GMT cut-off.

BetOnline's 2025 WWE Royal Rumble markets were published in late 2024 and were available right through to 11PM GMT on Saturday 1 February. All prices were collected from the BetOnline Website on the dates noted.

Jey Uso Wins 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

Jey Uso has just won the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble.

From a betting perspective, it should come as a surprise because he closed at +2,000 in BetOnline's outright Rumble winner market.

It is worth noting that Uso was backed on Friday night because his price was at +2,500. There was a period in the early hours when the sportsbook had taken Jey's selection off the board.

The selection had returned by the time I accessed the website at 10:15AM GMT. 

UK sportsbook - Sky Bet - also had Uso at the equivalent of +2,000 when its market closed ahead of the PLE's start.

Uso started off at +1,800 when BetOnline's market was first installed in November, but had drifted out to +6,600 around the time when he was set to challenge Gunther on last week's edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

Earlier in the evening, Charlotte Flair won the Women's Royal Rumble as an odds-on favourite.

2025 WWE Royal Rumble Betting Favourites

Here are the betting favourites for the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble event.

• Cody Rhodes
• Charlotte Flair (Women's Royal Rumble)
• CM Punk (Men's Royal Rumble)
• #DIY

The selections are ranked in order of strength starting with the wrestler with the shortest odds that were available from the BetOnline Sportsbook.

Punk Now Odds-On At BetOnline

CM Punk is now an odds-on favourite - with BetOnline -  to win tonight's Royal Rumble.

As of 10PM GMT, customers could find Punk at -400. He was at +100 earlier this evening, but was a +190 joint second-favourite when I looked over the markets this morning.

This morning's favourite, John Cena, is now up to +240.

Charlotte Flair remains at -500 in the market for the Women's Royal Rumble.

View BetOnline's Markets

Punk Now Rumble Favourite At BetOnline

In a brief update to this morning's post, the BetOnline Sportsbook has now placed CM Punk as its favourite to win the Men's Royal Rumble.

Punk, who was a joint +190 second-favourite this morning, is now at +100.

As a result, the previous favourite - John Cena - has drifted out from +100 to +150.

The top portion of the market now looks like this:

In this morning's post, I noted that Punk had become a favourite to win the battle royal with betting sites across Europe. 

View BetOnline's Wrestling Markets

A Saturday Morning Look Over BetOnline's WWE Royal Rumble '25 Markets

BetOnline's markets for this year's WWE Royal Rumble were first installed in November when the company published an outright market for the Men's Royal Rumble. The oddsmakers followed that up, around about a week later, when they opened a book on the Women's Royal Rumble.

Both markets are still available as of this morning. They have also been accompanied by odds for the two other matches that have since been added to the card.

BetOnline's market for the WWE Tag Team Championship match - which will see DIY defend the straps against former titleholder, The Motor City Machine Guns, in a two-out-of-three falls contest.

I first came across the market on Tuesday afternoon. At that point in time, the champions were priced as -700 favourites over Shelley and Sabin (+400).  I returned to the website later that day and noticed the odds for the challengers had slid into +300 while those for Gargano and Ciampa has moved up to -500.

By the following afternoon, close to twenty-four hours after initially seeing the market, I once again noticed the Motor City Machine Guns selection had shortened. BetOnline had them at +200 with their opponents up to -300.

As you'll be able to see in the table above, the odds for DIY had dropped into -500 when I visited the BetOnline website yesterday morning. However, on the first viewing for today, I noticed their odds had moved up to -400.

When DIY's price moved in, the Motor City Machine Guns' selection was pushed out to +300, but was cut into +250 overnight.

Betting for Cody Rhodes' defence of the Undisputed WWE Championship - in a ladder match against Kevin Owens - also began early this week.

Rhodes was -1,500 initially, but - as you'll be able to view below, he has been backed down into -4,000 as the week has progressed.

Those looking to back Kevin Owens will presently find him as a +900 underdog. That number is up from the +600 he was on Tuesday afternoon.

BetOnline's market for the Women's Royal Rumble winner was installed in early December with Becky Lynch a +200 favourite. She is no longer in that position due to bets appearing to come in on Charlotte Flair who was a +275 joint-second favourite in December but is now an odds on -375 favourite.

Charlotte Flair will be entering the ring for the first time in over a year as a participant in tonight's match.

Lynch, who has not been confirmed for the match but remains with the company because she was at a WWE/Netflix press event in the latter part of 2024, is still available to gamble on. However, her price has now been increased to +450 and sits below Flair, Bianca Belair (+250)  and Iyo Sky (+325) in the upper part of the table.

Bianca Belair, who has been talked about as a potential future opponent for Rhea Ripleys Women's World Championship, was +350 when the selections were initially published. Iyo Sky's price has plummeted from +10,000 since December.

Now, onto the first market which was published.

John Cena was BetOnline's outright favourite to win the Men's Royal Rumble, with a price of +375, back in November. The retiring superstar - who has set his sights on winning his final Royal Rumble in order to main event his last WrestleMania as an active participant - is back at the top of the market albeit with odds of +100 following a period when Seth Rollins was favoured.

It's worth noting that, over here in Europe, the betting favourite is CM Punk following a surge over the past few days which saw Cena drop into second.

Punk is BetOnline's joint second-favourite at +190. He was a sole fave, with a price of +400, in November.

Seth Rollins is the other second favourite in BetOnline's market. As noted, there was a time when the sportsbook positioned Rollins as the favourite. And an odds-on one at that. 

Roman Reigns is fourth in the betting. As of this morning, those looking to back him can find The OTC at +300. He was +700 back in November.

It's worth acknowledging Reigns (do you see what I did there?) is third in the betting on European sportsbooks' websites. I have created a table contrasting the positions at the top of BetOnline's market to the consensus of European books.

As you can see - The Rock sits fourth with both BetOnline and the combined European books I've used to create the consensus.

BetOnline listed The Final Boss' selection as a +600 third-favourite when its market was created last year. He has since drifted out and is currently +1,000.

Tonight's event begins at 11PM GMT. I hope to add some more posts bearer to bell-time.

Visit BetOnline's Wrestling Markets

My Rumble 2025 Favourite(s)

We're more than a day away from finding out who this year's Royal Rumble winners will be, so I thought I'd do my semi-annual post where I write about the bets I have going into the two battle royals.

This year is an unusual for my wagering. That's because, as I write this post on Friday morning (hours before tonight's Smackdown, I should add), I have only ONE bet on for this weekend.

It's a 4/1 (+400 US) wager on John Cena to win the men's Royal Rumble. The bet was struck in the latter part of 2024. 

Regular visitors are sure to know that, over the years, John Cena and The Rock have always been the first two selections I seek whenever Royal Rumble outright markets are published. The former is one I have done the most because I have strongly believed WWE would go in the direction of Cena having a run to break the 'record' of sixteen world titles.

Quite a while back, I had a spirited debate with somebody in the comment section of a post here on the blog about Cena going for 17. The commenter was adamant WWE would not do the record chase story. It's more obvious now, in Cena's final year, the company will indeed write that narrative.

The elephant in the room with this idea, however, is the fact that Cena could fall at the Rumble and enter the last chance saloon - through an Elimination Chamber victory - in four weeks from tomorrow night.

At the time I placed my wager on Cena, I had discounted Cena .vs. Cody Rhodes because I felt Rhodes' WrestleMania opponent would be The Rock. My opinion at the time was Cena would go after the World Heavyweight Champion - Gunther.

As of right now, the reported potential WrestleMania matches have Cena challenging Rhodes and for Roman Reigns to wrestle CM Punk.

Which leads me to some out there ideas I have which contradicts those news reports. Some have been re-erupted after seeing CM Punk and Cody Rhodes having a promo together on Monday night.

In yesterday's post, I wrote about the BetOnline sample study which points to over half of the US favouring John Cena for the Rumble win. The next person liked by the US public, per the research, is CM Punk.

I keep being drawn into thinking what the favour Paul Heyman now owes CM Punk after the latter helped the Bloodline win at the Survivor Series will be. The conclusion I keep reaching to is the favour will result in Heyman delivering Punk one of the things he has clamoured for in his career as a professional wrestler - to main event WrestleMania.

There are a number ways to get there, but the one which I fantasy booked is for Roman Reigns to win the Royal Rumble, thus setting up a third consecutive WrestleMania contest between Reigns and Cody Rhodes - which would main event night two - but, here's the plot twist: Punk calls in the favour from his mentor forcing Heyman to have to honour his word and add Punk to the match.

I suppose a similar, yet also dissimilar, angle was done to add Shawn Michaels to the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XX after Chris Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble and chose Triple H as his opponent. Michaels ended up adding his name to the contract. I envision Paul Heyman doing something along those lines. Minus a Superkick. 

A triple threat would make a fresh match for the WrestleMania main event after having already seen singles contests between Reigns and Rhodes closing out the shows of 2023 and 2024.

It would be ironic considering one of Punk's gripes from his last run with WWE was the fact he (a) didn't main event WrestleMania and (b) was not added to the WrestleMania XXIX main event between The Rock and John Cena.

A Roman Reigns Rumble victory could then mean my initial guess of Gunther .vs. Cena would be in play.

But, like I've already stated, the reports have Reigns .vs.  Punk in singles and Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against John Cena.

Another thing from Monday night was we - once again - saw Seth Rollins and Gunther in a promo. Last year, Gunther came out and vowed he would challenge Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship upon winning the 2024 Rumble. On the most recent episode of Raw, we witnessed a similar exchange to last year. This time, however, Gunther is the titleholder and Rollins is setting his sights on a Rumble win.

I do not rule Rollins out from winning tomorrow night. Neither do the bettors and sportsbooks because Rollins is currently a +175 second-favourite. That's a drop from the +1,400 BetOnline was offering back in November.

With only one bet, that means I have evidently given the women's Royal Rumble a miss this year.

For most of 2024, I envisioned Jade Cargill as a potential winner (and challenging Bianca Belair) but that has not panned out with Cargill currently written off TV and Belair holding the tag straps with Naomi (who replaced Cargill as co-holder).

Cargill's odds have moved out from +600 to +4,000 since December.

It has been reported that WWE is looking to have Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair wrestle each other some time in the future. With Ripley holding the Women's World Championship, that news has evidently made Belair a potential Women's Royal Rumble winner. She is a +180 second-favourite with BetOnline. The earliest price I have Belair is at +350 (3rd December).

Charlotte Flair is odds-on. She is returning from injuries that have kept her out of action since 2023. As of this morning, a win for Flair will pay out at -200. That's a drop from the +275 customers could have picked her up at in December.

The obvious match for Flair is to challenge Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women's Championship - a bout that has also been discussed in the writers' room.

So - to close: I have only ONE bet and that's a gamble on John Cena securing a WrestleMania title shot now rather than in doing so via the Elimination Chamber.

If not Cena, I would like Roman Reigns as it would mean the scenario leading to a triple threat main event with Cody Rhodes defending against CM Punk and Reigns could turn into a possibility.

As for the women's Rumble - I think the safe option would be to predict Charlotte Flair or Bianca Belair although I'd enjoy the bragging rights I'd garner from my friends if Jade Cargill won it.

Over Half Of The US Is Rooting For John Cena To Win The Royal Rumble

Over half of the United States of America is rooting for John Cena to win the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble this weekend. That is the result from research BetOnline's staff have carried out over the past seven days using data from X (formerly Twitter).

The sportsbook's researchers tallied phrases like 'John Cena will win the Royal Rumble,' 'CM Punk should win the Royal Rumble', 'The Rock will win the Royal Rumble' and other similar sentences using names from the WWE roster in order to find a clear 

A sample of over 100,000 tweets/posts from people in the USA were tracked for this project.

Cena is liked by twenty-six states. Following Cena is CM Punk (13 states), The Rock (5 states), Seth Rollins (4 states) and Roman Reigns, who has Arizona and Washington throwing up their ones

As of the time of writing, BetOnline lists John Cena as the odds-on favourite to win the Rumble in the company's outright winner market. He's -110. That's a drop from the +375 I first recorded him at on Tuesday November 26th.

Unlike the order of the research, the second-favourite in the betting is Seth Rollins at +175. Then it's Punk (+225), Roman Reigns (+300) and The Rock (+1,200) followed by a a plethora of other selections.

View BetOnline's WWE Markets

A Look At Cody Rhodes' 2024 Royal Rumble Win

I was in such a rush after watching the conclusion to Royal Rumble this morning I forgot to hit 'Publish' on a post in which I had written about Cody Rhodes' win and noted something about his early and late betting odds both here and offshore.

The mistake, and the time in-between, has allowed me to create a couple of tables to highlight how Rhodes' odds fluctuated leading into last night's victory.

To start off, the BetOnline market for the Rumble opened - back in October - with Rhodes at +600. That price declined across the next few months and was down to +225 at the start of the week.

His price began to drift out following the interest coming in on Gunther following the Sports Illustrated article I dedicated a series of posts to during the week.

The last number I have saw Rhodes at +300 in the early hours of this morning (GMT). 

I found Cody Rhodes' selection in Sky Bet's market the most interesting of the two because it was at 11/2 (+550 US) when I first began to follow the betting on May 5th of last year. It rose and declined as the months led into showtime and managed to be back at 11/2 when I last took note of the odds at midnight.

The last man ousted - CM Punk - was the closing favourite with both sportsbooks (-300/BetOnline, 4/5 Sky Bet). As you've probably guessed, Punk was a late inclusion to Sky Bet's market because he was contracted to AEW in May.

For what it's worth, and it isn't worth much because he didn't win, the first time I saw Punk on Sky Bet's list of names was on September 15th. At that time, he was 14/1 (+1,400 US).

Punk was available at +2,500 (25/1 UK) when BetOnline's market launched in mid-to-late October.

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Bayley Wins 2024 WWE Women's Royal Rumble

Bayley has won the 2024 WWE Women's Royal Rumble.

She did so as a closing odds-on favourite with both domestic and offshore sportsbooks.

BetOnline's market opened in the latter part of 2023 with the eventual winner priced at +1,000 (10/1 UK). The eventual winner became a +150 favourite sometime before January 16th and fell into -500 shortly before tonight's event started.

Sky Bet and Paddy Power's Rumble markets were published in the spring of 2023. Bayley was 14/1 (+1,400 US) with Sky Bet on May 5th. She was 9/1 (+900 US) when Paddy Power/Betfair's market opened a month earlier than that.

The early favourites were Liv Morgan (Paddy Power and Sky Bet) and Nia Jax (BetOnline). Both wrestled in the match with the returning Morgan being the last person eliminated.

Royal Rumble 2024 Betting Favourites

Here are the betting favourites for tonight's WWE Royal Rumble event as the show was starting.

• Roman Reigns (-2,000)
• Logan Paul (-2,000)
• Bayley (-500)
• CM Punk (-300)

Each selection is ranked in order of strength starting with the wrestler with the shortest odds that were available from the BetOnline Sportsbook.

Rumble '24 Odds Focus As Of 9PM GMT

Here are some price changes I've collected for some of the top tier names in BetOnline's Rumble markets.

Odds from BetOnline

My Rumble 2024 Favourites

It's the afternoon ahead of the WWE Royal Rumble. You know what that means.

I have to share my final guesses on who will win the two battle royals. And, like years previous, I am conflicted with how things will play out.

I'll start off with who I believe is the easiest from the two Rumble markets.

Bayley is my pick to win the women's Royal Rumble. It's either her or Becky Lynch, but I'm going with what will become the most intriguing story leaving the Rumble.

We've seen Bayley being told by her Damage CTRL colleagues that, should Bayley win the Rumble, she should challenge Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship (instead of aiming for Damage CTRL member, Iyo Sky's WWE Women's Championship). 

Bayley herself has targeted Ripley in her promos for the Rumble, but - I believe we will see Bayley challenge Sky for the title at WrestleMania.

They have been teasing Bayley is kind of an outsider in Damage CTRL so a Rumble win would further along that story and lead to the schism between Bayley and her group.

Bayley is currently odds-on to win the ladies' Rumble. I backed her at 14/1 when I first saw the tease of animosity between her and the other members of Damage CTRL.

Becky Lynch is the second-favourite and I think that's fair because the company has been teasing a WrestleMania meeting between Lynch and Rhea Ripley.

A few weeks ago, Ripley told Lynch she wanted the Lass Kicker to win the Royal Rumble so she could defend her title against her at Mania, so they could get to that match tonight (obviously) or let it run into the Elimination Chamber.

It's worth noting that, should Becky win her shot via a match at the Elimination Chamber, she'll do so in Rhea Ripley's home country of Australia, so - in storyline - Lynch would be securing Ripley's wish in front of Ripley's supporters.

Nia Jax has been part of the Ripley-Lynch story for the past few weeks, so I believe they'll have Jax be the person who ruins Lynch's night this evening. 

I also believe Jax will end up facing Rhea Ripley at Elimination Chamber (with Ripley as the hometown babyface), but that's getting somewhat off track.

So, my pick is Bayley. But, if I am wrong, it has to be Becky Lynch.

For the men's Royal Rumble, I have decent prices on CM Punk (14/1)  and The Rock (16/1). I also have a few short-priced wagers on Cody Rhodes.

With Rhodes, I believe if the plan is to wrestle Roman Reigns for a second consecutive WrestleMania, the logical way to get to that bout is by having the Rumble win tonight.

Rhodes is a member of the Raw roster, so he would have to get to Smackdown's Reigns via a Rumble win. 

Punk, on the other hand, is a Raw roster member so he could easily become a contender to fellow Raw colleague Seth Rollins' strap another way.

That is if Rollins defending the title is the plan considering the champ is currently injured.

With all that said - IF WWE's plan is for Roman Reigns to defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against The Rock - on the weekend of April 6 and 7 - then they have to do Rock winning tonight to hype the heck out that one.

The elephant in the room is - will The Rock's people be happy with him wrestling so soon after the Vince McMahon scandal re-erupted this week?

I would make the most profit from my wagers if it's a Rock and Bayley double, so I am wishing those two are the winners. 

But, if I'm wrong: it's got to be Becky Lynch and/or Cody Rhodes.