Odds are courtesy of BWIN Online Sports Betting and after the jump
The Notables
- Seth Rollins 5-1 (The problem with Rollins is he has the belt now. So he’s either likely to carry it to Mania, making him not in the Rumble match, or lose it and fall out of the title picture altogether. It’s hard to see a scenario in which he loses the belt, but comes back and wins the Rumble, unless Triple H screws him, Rollins turns face, Hunter tells him he gets no more title shots, but Rollins uses the Rumble loophole)
- Kevin Owens 5-1 (Makes sense his odds are so low. Who could lift him over the top?)
- Brock Lesnar 5-1 (With no clear opponent for Mania, probably the best bet. He’s likely in the title match, with no dream match on the horizon, so the only doubt is whether he goes into Mania as champ or challenger)
- Cesaro 8-1 (Betting this is essentially a bet on Vince dying before the Rumble. He’s made it abundantly clear how he feels about Cesaro)
- Roman Reigns 8-1 (They were burned by it last year, which makes me think they wouldn’t do it again. I would tend to think if Roman is in the main event at Mania this year, he goes in as champion, or is a late addition to whatever the title match is. Roman beating, let’s say Sheamus, to win the belt, brings him a lot less scrutiny than him winning another Rumble. Oddly enough, he’d be easier to get over with the belt, than chasing it)
- Daniel Bryan 8-1 (I’d actually be shocked if he’s anywhere near the Rumble match this year. Not only is he not cleared to wrestle, but I’m sure WWE wants no part of his fans hijacking another Rumble)
- Rusev 9-1 (They’d have to really heat him up, and that means squashing this Ziggler/Lana feud, and that shows no signs of slowing)
- Dean Ambrose 11-1 (If you’re looking for a recalibration of the natural order of the WWE roster based on ratings panic, Ambrose is a stealth candidate to benefit from that. Of all the babyfaces on the roster, he’s probably the most organically over with the largest portion of the fanbase. It wouldn’t take much to turn the heat up on him quickly)
- John Cena 15-1 (I feel this is a bargain, and I’d bet it immediately. I’m sure the plan is for John Cena is to carry the US Title for the foreseeable future, but if you don’t think the fallback plan for Mania at any given time is John Cena, then you haven’t been watching WWE for the last 10 years. I could very easily see him winning the Rumble and facing Brock for the title, and the record, at Mania)
- Bray Wyatt 15-1 (He’d have to win a feud first)
- Ryback 15-1 (I don’t see any path forward for babyface Ryback other than what he’s doing now. If they wanted to repackage him as a monster heel, this becomes slightly more plausible, but not really)
- Randy Orton 15-1 (While the company has been tone deaf before on Orton’s standing with the WWE fanbase, his stature has considerably dropped since his last title reign. He’s firmly rooted in the mid-card, and while he’s one of the more over babyfaces on the card on any given night, there’s no ground swell for Orton that would make you think they’d reverse course on him and put him back in the title picture. And a heel turn at this point would do nothing for anyone involved. He needs to stay in his lane)
- Braun Strowman 15-1 (Why this could happen: This company loves building monster heels to be crushed by the top babyface. Why this shouldn’t happen: This guy is nowhere near ready for a match on that stage. He’s awful in the ring. And how the hell would anyone get a 15-20 minute main event match out of him at this point in his career)
- Neville 21-1 (He peaked when he debuted, and has steadily fallen into obscurity on the card)
- Finn Balor 26-1 (I wouldn’t rule out someone in NXT winning the Royal Rumble at some point in the future, but if/when that day comes, it’s going to be some monster carved from granite that has everyone in the braintrust drooling all over him, not a vanilla midget. I do think Balor could make the Mania card, though)
- Dolph Ziggler 26-1 (I think the odds are better he’s no longer in the company by WrestleMania than anywhere near the main event. There was a brief window around last Survivor Series to test the waters with Ziggler, and they gave all his heat, from winning the Elimination Match against The Authority, to Sting, and then took him off TV for a month)
- Sheamus 34-1 (It’s odd to me that Sheamus is this long a shot, but he has the briefcase, so his odds of winning the Rumble are probably non-existent. His future main event prospects will be tied up in the cash-in whenever that happens over the next couple months, not the Rumble match)
- Big Show 34-1 (Never underestimate the company’s ability to troll you with Show)
- The Undertaker 34-1 (The only way I could see this happening is if the goal is for Taker to win the belt at Mania and retire the same night, thus affording him the highest honor WWE could conceivably give a wrestler)
- Kane 34-1 (See Big Show)
- Triple H 51-1 (While it’s not out of the realm of possibility Triple H is involved in a WrestleMania title match, the idea of him winning the Rumble to get there doesn’t logically fit. He runs the show. He could conceivably book himself in unlimited title matches. It would have to be something along the lines of him and Steph split and he turns babyface, and yeah that’s not happening at all)
- The Rock 81-1 (This is actually slightly more plausible than Triple H winning. We kind of know Rock and Triple H are facing each other at Mania. Triple H could conceivably beat Seth Rollins for the title. Rock could enter the Rumble at #30, do light duty, and win it to set up a Mania title match. Where this hits a snag is, The Rock isn’t coming back to job to Triple H, and if The Rock wins at Mania, that means he has to work another date, and why would he do that? Still, at 81-1? A $5 bet yields $405. It’s in the realm of possibility, however small.
- Vince McMahon 201-1 (One of the more well known Vince-isms is that he hates old people on TV. Happy belated 70th, Vince)
The Rest
- Damien Sandow 26-1 (When was the last time he was on TV?)
- Titus O’Neil 34-1 (They did give him the tag titles for winning a Father of the Year Award)
- Tyson Kidd 34-1 (I’m pretty sure he won’t be cleared by the Rumble, if ever)
- D-Von Dudley 41-1
- Bubba Ray Dudley 41-1
- Erick Rowan 41-1
- Fandango 51-1
- Bo Dallas 51-1
- Mark Henry 51-1
- Luke Harper 51-1
- Curtis Axel 67-1 (Still hasn’t been eliminated from the 2014 Royal Rumble!)
- King Barrett 67-1
- Darren Young 67-1
- Kofi Kingston 67-1
- Big E 67-1
- Xavier Woods 67-1
- The Miz 67-1
- Shawn Michaels 81-1
- Joshua Bredl 81-1 (I actually had no idea who this was, so I had to look it up. Yeah, if Tough Enough had done huge ratings, the idea of them hotshotting the winner wouldn’t seem completely out of the realm of possibility, but the show didn’t do well. I’d actually be surprised if this guy was even on NXT TV by Mania time).
- Chris Jericho 81-1
- Goldust 81-1
- Adam Rose 101-1
- Mick Foley 101-1
- Stone Cold Steve Austin 101-1
- Shane McMahon 201-1
- ZZ Loupe 251-1 (If the guy they liked from Tough Enough has no chance, the fat one they tried to sabotage the vote against has no chance in heeeeeeeelllll)
Synopsis: Brock’s the best bet at 5-1. The next logical choice after Brock would probably be Roman Reigns, but are they really going to do that again? I’d also lay a couple bucks on longer shots in Cena (15-1), Strowman (15-1), and Rock (81-1).