Calling all fantasy bookers, people who think they know exactly how WWE is going to book their shows, and gambling addicts! Whatever your poison, straight up “money line” action or prop bets, you can for-real bet on Survivor Series, and this post is going to give you the ins and outs of that. Rejoice: gambling on professional wrestling isn’t dead yet!
For the uninitiated (aka people responsible with their money, aka people who don’t like to have fun), gambling odds work like this.
Whatever is next to the – sign is generally the favorite and you must bet that much to win $100. Whatever is next to the + sign is the underdog and you win that much for betting $100. So for example, Brock Lesnar vs. James Ellsworth in a shoot match might look like this:
Brock Lesnar -5,000,000,000,000
James Ellsworth +10,000,000,000,000
So in order to win $100 by putting your trust in Brock Lesnar, you must be willing to risk 5 trillion dollars. Your life would be absolutely ruined if Ellsworth pulls this off. But you’d be the weirdest quadrillionaire in the galaxy if you put $100 on Carmella’s ex-boyfriend to pull off the upset and, ostensibly, becoming Carmella’s new boyfriend, again.
Sports Betting Experts has odds up for every single match this Sunday. So you can most definitely bet on things like The Miz (-350) vs. Baron Corbin (+300) or Brock Lesnar (-350) vs. AJ Styles (+300). There’s value in those underdogs, as evidenced by my use of the bolding technique.
However, we’re going to dive in on the prop bets, the pro wrestling equivalents of stuff like “which quarterback will throw for the most yards” or “will there be a home run in this game” or “what number will be higher, Anthony Davis’ combined points, rebounds, and blocks or Extremely Wrong Things Said By Paul Pierce On a Microphone in 2017“. Here are some of our favorites.
THE WRESTLING OBSERVER/DAVE MELTZER’S LOWEST MATCH STAR RATING AT SURVIVOR SERIES 2017 WILL BE?
Over 2.25 stars: +130
Under 2.25 stars -150
This is like betting the “under” for a bunch of basketball games and marking out for every brick. It’s not fun to root for people’s failure but if you’re the kind of person who likes to profit when everyone is bad at something, this prop bet may be for you.
TOTAL NUMBER OF TITLES TO CHANGE HANDS AT SURVIVOR SERIES 2017?
Over 0.5: +180
Under 0.5 -210
Title holders at end of broadcast will be used to grade this bet
This number sits at .5 because there’s only one title match on the card (so far), the cruiserweight title currently held by Enzo that we’re all still counting our blessings doesn’t look like this.
But pro wrestling is pro wrestling and for all we know, there’s plans for some last minute title vs. title matches. Taking the over now has value as you’ll profit if Kalisto wins or if some shenanigans go down and a title surprisingly changes hands. It’s not like weird things never happen at Survivor Series, you know?
Plus, maybe this weird graphic that makes it look like Miz is both Intercontinental and United States Champion was a precursor.
for a second I thought The Miz had won both IC & US titles pic.twitter.com/hjRUEplF0O
— forever botchamania (@Maffewgregg) November 14, 2017
Now, most of these props are tied to whatever Dave Meltzer will think of Survivor Series. If NBA prop bets were mainly focused on what Jackie McMullan or Jack McCallum thought of the games that would be wild. But the most fun prop bets in sports are ones that are creative, challenging, and charming to follow. We made up some prop bets below because that’s what we do.
ABC: EVERY TRADITIONAL SURVIVOR SERIES MATCH WINNER WILL ONLY HAVE FIRST AND LAST NAMES THAT START WITH A, B, OR C
Yes: +500
No: -450
If you believe that the most logical winners of the traditional Survivor Series matches are some combination of Alicia Fox and Asuka, some combination of Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman and Finn Balor, or some combination of Bobby Roode and John Cena then pound the Yes here. But with HHH in the mix it doesn’t look good for the ABC gang.
OVER/UNDER WHAT WILL BE THE TOTAL TIME TAKEN UP BY SUPERSTAR ENTRANCES
Over 19 minutes: -110
Under 19 minutes: -110
There are a lot of wrestlers walking down the aisle this Sunday, and a handful of them are extremely good at taking their time. Baron Corbin walks extremely slow, Bobby Roode is Bobby Roode, and HHH probably will double however long Shinsuke Nakamura takes.
Add in the couple extra seconds for the anticipation to build for the mystery in the women’s match plus the Shield calling back Edge and Christian and this one will probably go over. Regardless, wouldn’t it be fun to watch Survivor Series on Twitter, with the With Spandex open thread post open, AND a stopwatch?
The future of odds makers putting up lines on WWE events is uncertain. We know there was publicity for betting on September’s No Mercy which is not a major pay-per-view, despite how much WWE wanted us to believe it was. Survivor Series, running for 31 years straight now, is considered a major pay-per-view, so it’s unclear how far away we are from being able to cash in on our collective wrestling every single month.
If Wrestlemania is the Super Bowl and Survivor Series is a playoff game, will we one day be able to bet on Monday Night Raw the way we bet on Monday Night Football? Can we gamble on the Superstar Shakeup in April the way we can gamble on the NFL draft? Can I drop $10 on what color tights The New Day is gonna wear or how long Lillian Garcia goes for the National Anthem at WrestleMania?
As gambling on sports becomes less and less taboo, here’s hoping that we all figure out how make Prime Time Players money before it’s too late.
