WWE SummerSlam 2017 has come and gone, and while it didn’t overshadow what was a much better NXT TakeOver show earlier that weekend, the main event featuring Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Brock Lesnar, and Roman Reigns was something WWE fans will never forget. The SummerSlam main card featured ten (10!) matches this year (thirteen (13!!) overall), and while you probably can’t remember half of them at this point, one lucky WWE insider made $45,600 correctly betting a 10-match parlay. For real.
The fact that you can even bet on wrestling is sort of a silly concept before you realize these same sketchy offshore betting sites will let you place a wager on just about anything. If you look hard enough, you’ll find places willing to take your bets on everything from Game of Thrones to random Street Fighter matches on Twitch. It’s just the world we live in.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter detailed exactly what happened here, but essentially, a gambler (likely a WWE insider) placed $3.36 10-match parlay that covered every match on the SummerSlam main card. For those unfamiliar with how parlays work, you can only win on a parlay if you get every bet in said parlay correct, which is why you can place a bet with as little as $3.36 and end up with $45,600 when the night is over. If you get one match wrong, you lose. This gambler nailed them all, because he almost certainly knew the finishes beforehand, and WWE didn’t make any last minute changes.
This trickle-down effect here will be fascinating. Parlays are rarely allowed on WWE bets for this very reason, and most sites cap off any bets before you can walk away with anything close to $45,600, because betting on WWE is, as we already established, silly. This could mark the beginning of the end for all types of WWE betting.
What makes this story even more bizarre is that the Wrestling Observer also reported that WWE talent may be engaging in some of this sketchy online wagering, too. “WWE talent” is a vague term, and we have no idea who that is referring to, exactly, but the idea of wrestlers betting on the finish to their own pre-determined matches is a level of silliness I can’t quite wrap my head around.
As far as how and why this possible WWE insider found out the finish to every match on the SummerSlam card, I’ll leave that speculation to the experts.
