Of all the things you can do as a WWE fan, betting on pro wrestling is one of the most ridiculous and wonderful. We’re still right around three weeks away from SummerSlam, and we’re less than a day away from the WWE Championship match being set. It will be Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal for Mahal’s title, and the oddsmakers have already set their opening lines for the bout.
Again, refer to the headline, because these odds are out way, way too early. It’ll probably be 19 or 20 days before the “smart money” comes in, and while you should probably put your money down before then if you’re really going to gamble on the outcome of a WWE match, you probably want to wait a little while for these odds to shift a bit. And there may not ever be a really good time to bet on this particular match, unless you hate cash-ins.
At the moment, Nakamura is a slight favorite to win the match, according to 5Dimes, via Bet Wrestling — to win the match, mind you, not win the title. Nakamura’s odds of winning the match itself are at -160, meaning you need to bet $160 to win $100 on that bet. Mahal’s odds of winning the match are at +120, meaning if you bet that same $100, you’ll win $120.
The more intriguing odds at the moment concern whether Baron Corbin will cash in Money in the Bank for the WWE Championship at any point during the evening. He’s currently overwhelmingly favored to cash in at SummerSlam, although as things currently stand, Mahal is the odds-on favorite to actually leave SummerSlam as WWE Champion. The odds are +115 for Mahal to be champ at the end of SummerSlam, +165 for Nakamura to have the belt at the end of the PPV, and +295 for Corbin to hold the title.
That means the most likely outcome, according to sportsbook types, is for Nakamura to win the match, but for Magal to retain his WWE Championship.
But again, it’s way too early.
