Pro Wrestling Betting–Early Proposition Odds for Wrestlemania 33
–Despite getting little respect pro wrestling has been popular for over a century.
– ‘Wrestlemania’ is considered the ‘Super Bowl of pro wrestling’.
– Just like the Super Bowl proposition bets on Wrestlemania are a natural .
PRO WRESTLING: A ‘LONG, STRANGE TRIP
When I first heard about sports books taking action on pro wrestling it sounded ridiculous for obvious reasons. Calling pro wrestling ‘fake’ is an insult to all of the talented and hard working individuals involved with it. You no doubt recall how that worked out for John Stossel on ’20/20′. The more appropriate term–and one that wrestlers themselves will use–is that pro wrestling is ‘worked’. What they’re trying to do is to create the illusion of violence for the entertainment of the fans and to put money in their pockets and the pockets of promoters. The history of ‘worked’ pro wrestling dates back to the late 1800’s when wrestlers would put on staged matches as a part of traveling carnivals. By ‘working’ the matches they could manipulate betting outcomes on them in their favor, plus it helped minimize the risk of serious injury. It was during this time that the concept of ‘gimmicks’, or elaborate personas to heighten the emotional investment of fans in matches, began. The real bit of trickery was that most of the ‘workers’ were also legit tough guys with a knowledge of submission wrestling aka ‘shooters’ with best of the best being called ‘hookers’. If some local rube started yelling that the matches were fake he’d be invited into the ring with a ‘shooter’ and the overwhelming majority of the time it wouldn’t go well for them. That concept never really changed although modern wrestlers are very unlikely to invite spectators into the ring. Nevertheless, fans who thought they’d tangle with men like the late ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude, Harley Race and Don ‘The Spoiler’ Jardine quickly learned that even though the matches are ‘worked’ these are some legitimately tough men.
The first wrestlers to become big stars were likely Martin ‘Farmer’ Burns and his protege Frank Gotch in the late 19th and early 20th century. Although it never got much respect from anyone outside ‘the business’ it became popular worldwide. Until the past few decades, most wrestling fans accepted the action they watched as a legitimate athletic contest (and became referred to as ‘marks’, a term co-opted from ‘carney slang’). The people involved in pro wrestling–from promoters to announcers to the wrestlers themselves–went to great lengths to maintain this veneer of legitimacy (‘protecting the business’ or ‘protecting kayfabe’). That has changed dramatically. The majority of wrestling fans now realize that the outcomes are predetermined but choose to ‘suspend disbelief’ and enjoy the show much in the same way they would a movie or TV show. There are still people who take pro wrestling for what it is and know little about what goes on behind the scenes. On the other hand, there are many people who have become fascinated with pro wrestling and have become students of the game that research the past and discuss the present using terms like ‘workrate’ and ‘booking philosophy’.
BETTING ON PRO WRESTLING
Full disclosure–you can put me in the latter group. I first started watching wrestling as a kid and evolved into trading videotapes of Japanese promotions in the 1980’s to today where I get up at ridiculous hours to watch New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) pay per views streaming live from Tokyo. To be honest, most of my time is spend studying the past rather than watching present day wrestling. My particular interest is the so called ‘territory era’ of the 1970’s. There are historians that focus on the early days of the sport and extensive video footage on everything that has happened in pro wrestling during the past couple of decades. The 1970’s are ‘hit and miss’ with video of most promotions hard to come by. There was a practical reason for this–videotape was expensive and many promotions would just record their weekly show over the previous episode. For this reason, much of the history during that era is tough to piece together. My ‘pet project’ in this regard is my ‘Legendary Masked Wrestlers’ Pinterest page where I collect clippings and memorabilia of masked wrestlers from the era including Mr. Wrestling 2, The Assassin and my all time favorite wrestler, The Spoiler.
There are stories from ‘old timers’ that local bookmakers would sometimes take betting action on big pro wrestling events in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Much like pro wrestlers themselves, it’s often hard to separate fact from fantasy when longtime sports bettors and bookmakers start telling tales. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did but based on what I know about the history of both wrestling and gambling I’ve seen nothing to validate this claim. The first time I saw betting on pro wrestling was during the ‘offshore boom’ years when a couple of books would take low limit bets on PPVs and in some cases the weekly shows of the major US promotions. This didn’t last long and for a number of years there was very little in the way of pro wrestling betting. It seems to be experiencing a revival as there are no shortage of sportsbooks worldwide posting odds on the big WWE PPV events. For some reason, I’ve yet to see anyone post odds on the major shows from Japan which are hugely popular there and have a good sized audience worldwide. At least I haven’t seen anyone until now–I’ll be taking a shot at posting numbers on the New Japan Pro Wrestling ‘Wrestle Kingdom 11’ show scheduled for January 4, 2017 at the Tokyo Dome.
THE ‘SUPER BOWL OF WRESTLING’
Most fans consider WWE’s annual Wrestlemania PPV as the ‘Super Bowl of Wrestling’. That got me thinking–why not set a wider variety of Wrestlemania futures and prop odds inspired by the wide variety of Super Bowl props we see every year? My first batch of ‘Wrestlemania 33 Proposition Betting Odds’ are below. This specific batch of odds was inspired by the ‘technical’ prop bets offered on the Super Bowl–propositions based on the intrinsic characteristics of pro football and not dependent on the teams involved. For the Super Bowl, there are props on ‘Will there be a safety?’ or ‘Will any team score three straight times?’. So how about some Wrestlemania prop betting odds on ‘Will a referee be knocked down in any match? (aka a ‘ref bump’) or ‘Will any match end in a disqualification?’ You’ll also find prop bets on TV ratings and the USA Today poll for ‘Best Commercial’ for the Super Bowl. We’ve got Wrestlemania proposition bets on the match ‘star ratings’ from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’–these are similar to star ratings you see in movie reviews. And, yes, we’ll have prop betting odds on the Wrestlemania PPV buyrates in the next update.
WWE WRESTLEMANIA 33 SPECIALS
Will a referee be knocked down (‘ref bump’) in any Wrestlemania 33 match?
Yes: -130
No: +110
Will a championship belt of any variety be used as a weapon a Wrestlemania 33 match?
Yes: +110
No: -130
Will a ringside chair of any variety be used as a weapon a Wrestlemania 33 match?
Yes: +150
No: -175
Will any wrestler bleed from the forehead either intentionally (‘blading’) or accidentally (‘hardway’)in a Wrestlemania 33 match?
Yes: +150
No: -175
Will any Wrestlemania 33 match end in a disqualification?
Yes: -120
No: +100
Will any Wrestlemania 33 match end in a double count out?
Yes: +500
No: -450
Will Conor McGregor Participate in a Wrestlemania 33 match?
Yes: +900
No: -1800
Will Connor McDavid Participate in a Wrestlemania 33 match?
Yes: +2500
No: -5000
Will any match at Wrestlemania 33 receive a ‘5 Star’ rating from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: +500
No: -750
Will any match at Wrestlemania 33 receive a ‘4 Star’ or higher rating from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: -500
No: +350
Will any match at Wrestlemania 33 receive a ‘2 Star’ rating or lower from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: -500
No: +375
Will any match at Wrestlemania 33 receive a ‘Dud’ or ‘minus star’ rating from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: +375
No: -500
The highest rated Wrestlemania 33 match from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’ will be?
Over 4.5 Stars: +130
Under 4.5 Stars: -150
The highest rated Wrestlemania 33 match from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’ will be?
Over 3.5 Stars: -450
Under 3.5 Stars: +300
The lowest rated Wrestlemania 33 match from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’ will be?
Over 1.45 Stars: +105
Under 1.45 Stars: -125
The highest rated Wrestlemania 33 match from Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’ will be?
A match involving male competitors: -210
A match involving female competitors: +180
Will a Wrestlemania 33 Tag Team Match be rated 4 stars or higher by Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: +145
No: -175
Will a Wrestlemania 33 Title Match be rated 4 stars or higher by Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: -150
No: +130
Will a Wrestlemania 33 Women’s Match be rated 4 stars or higher by Dave Meltzer of ‘The Wrestling Observer’?
Yes: -150
No: +130