Wrestlemania 34 Pro Wrestling Betting Odds Update
–’Wrestlemania’ is considered the ‘Super Bowl’ of the WWE.
– Just like the Super Bowl proposition bets on Wrestlemania are a natural.
– Wrestlemania 34 will take place in New Orleans on Sunday, April 8, 2018
Wrestlemania 34 will take place at the New Orleans Superdome on Sunday, April 8 2018. Wrestlemania is the biggest event of the year for the WWE and from fairly humble beginnings on closed circuit TV has become hugely popular. It’s drawn a live gate of 70,000+ every year for the past decade including a crowd of 101,763 for Wrestlemania 32 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Last year, the event took place in Orlando, Florida and drew 75,245 to the Camping World Stadium.
It’s also the biggest WWE event in terms of significance. The company pulls out all the stops for Wrestlemania and its where the most significant storylines culminate. In most years, the WWE Championship or other top belt is defended in the main event. This year’s main event remains ‘TBA’ at this point (and we’ve even got a prop bet on it) but it will very likely be Roman Reigns against Brock Lesnar for Lesnar’s Universal Title. Another big match on the show will be former UFC superstar Ronda Rousey joining up with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a Mixed Tag Team Match. The WWE is hoping that Rousey will become as big a draw as a pro wrestler as she was as a MMA fighter.
THE CHANGING NATURE OF THE WWE BUSINESS MODEL
It wasn’t that long ago that the WWE’s revenues were driven by PPV buyrates. This put a lot of pressure on the creative side of the business to repeatedly come up with blockbuster main events that would attract a large audience willing to pay $39.95 (or more) for each of the company’s dozen or so PPV events every year. They could usually count on a million plus buys for Wrestlemania but the rest of the lineup was a complete crapshoot. Volatile PPV rates made for volatile revenues which became that much more problematic once the WWE became a publicly held corporation.
In 2014, the business model of the promotion–and to a large extent pro wrestling in general–was changed forever with the launch of the WWE Network. The 24/7 network would air the events that had previously been available on PPV. In addition, it offers a wide variety of original content, classic matches, documentaries, etc. The price tag of $9.99 per month is well below the cost of one PPV under the old revenue format but only the most hardcore fans would buy every event. For $10 a month, even casual fans would contribute to the WWE’s bottom line every month and as long as they delivered compelling programming the network would grow and prosper.
That was the thinking at least. The network got off to a rocky start–after Vince McMahon suggested that the WWE Network would need a million subscribers to break even they reported a user base of 667,000 for the first quarter. That tanked WWE stock, which lost 50% of its value over the next month. To be fair, there were other issues at play (a lower than expected TV deal among them) but the underperformance of the WWE Network got most of the press. Fast forward to today and things are going much more smoothly–the network has between 1.6 and 1.7 million paying subscribers per month and is expanding worldwide. Other promotions have launched their own ‘networks’, most notably New Japan Pro Wrestling who has leveraged their NJPW World streaming service to record heights of popularity both in their native country and internationally.
So what has the change from PPV to streaming networks meant for the in-ring product? In the WWE’s case, it’s meant that they can develop more coherent storylines over the longterm without the need to ‘hotshot’ angles in hopes of popping a big PPV number. The ‘glass half empty’ version of that? The match lineup for big shows like Wrestlemania are arguably not as ‘fully loaded’ as they have been in the past.
Below you’ll find odds on the confirmed matches along with a few other Wrestlemania 34 props. Look for a final update early next week with odds on any additional matches added to the card and more props:
WWE WRESTLEMANIA 34 PRO WRESTLING BETTING ODDS UPDATED 3/19/18
WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH
Roman Reigns: -350
Brock Lesnar: +300
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
AJ Styles: -150
Shinsuke Nakamura: +130
THE WRESTLING OBSERVER/DAVE MELTZER’S STAR RATING FOR THE STYLES/NAKAMURA WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH?
Over 4.5 stars +120
4.5 stars -125
Under 4.5 stars +185
RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Nia Jaxx: -250
Alexa Bliss: +210
WOMEN’S BATTLE ROYAL
Carmella wins: -210
Field wins: +180
SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Asuka: -350
Charlotte Flair: +300
INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Finn Balor: +115
Seth Rollins: +150
The Miz: +350
WWE CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Cedric Alexander: -250
Drew Gulak or Mustafa Ali: +210
MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH
Ronda Rousey/Kurt Angle: -350
Triple H/Stephanie McMahon: +300
MIXED TITLE MATCH METHOD OF VICTORY
Pinfall: +125
Submission: -225
Any Other Method: +700
WHICH WRESTLER WILL TAKE THE VICTORY IN MIXED TITLE MATCH?
Ronda Rousey: -200
Kurt Angle: +300
Triple H: +300
Stephanie McMahon: +750
WHICH WRESTLER WILL TAKE THE LOSS IN MIXED TITLE MATCH?
Stephanie McMahon: -300
Triple H: +350
Kurt Angle: +450
Ronda Rousey: +900
SINGLES MATCH
Kevin Owens: -170
Sami Zayn: +150
FINAL MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 34 WILL BE?
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns: -175
Any Match Featuring The Undertaker: +100
Any Women’s Match: +150
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: +250
Kurt Angle/Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H/Stephanie McMahon: +250
Any Match featuring Daniel Bryan: +1000
Any Match featuring The Young Bucks: +2500
Any Match featuring Kenny Omega: +5000
Any Match featuring Kazuchika Okada: +10000
Young Bucks vs. The New Day: +15000