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HOW CAN YOU BET ON A WRESTLING CONTEST OR PAY-PER-VIEW?

For a fan of pro wrestling, one of the most boring parts of their supporter experience is when someone tells them “you know it’s fake, right? The whole thing is fixed.” And then you have to reply that no, you’re stunned to hear that a sport in which a player can attack a referee with a chair (and then be back competing a week later) is scripted. But the “wrestling is entertainment” line does come back up to the surface when you recognize that people actually bet on wrestling events, including betting on who will win a match.

Given that every wrestling match begins with the important individuals knowing who will be victorious at the end, how does that square with smarks finding their way to casinononaams.casino to find a bookmaker who will offer odds on the Royal Rumble? If you follow the in-ring action closely enough, you can often tell who’s favored to go over at a big PPV. With the outcomes being pre-ordained what room is there for betting, which is meant to be based on jeopardy, to be a part of wrestling? Well, read on…

Yes, it’s fixed. No, you don’t know what’s going to happen

Unless you’re a part of the creative team at WWE or AEW, one of the wrestlers involved, or Vince McMahon, you don’t know how a specific big match is going to end. Yes, you can make a pretty educated guess, but the same could be said of most Super Bowls. It’s fair to say that often the babyface will come out on top in a particular feud, but creatives know that a pay-off has a bit more of a pop behind it when it’s teased and delayed. It used to be that big feuds would get their denouement at Wrestlemania, but that concept got canned when the WWE realized it removed any element of jeopardy. You might know that an upcoming star is going to win their feud, but you don’t know when.

Some people do know what’s going to happen, but it’s not worth them betting

Pete Rose was one of baseball’s most untouchable stars for years as a player and a few as a head coach, before he was permanently banned from the sport in 1989 for betting on baseball. Even though he had bet on his own team to win (and could therefore hardly be said to have been fixing games), he’s frozen out of the game to this day. Baseball players and coaches earn enough that they can maybe afford to risk repercussions for gambling, but wrestling promotion employees - including the wrestlers themselves - would struggle to make a living if banned. So it doesn’t make sense for them to bet.

Betting on pre-ordained events is hardly new

In different markets worldwide, the number of things on which you can bet is considerable, and goes way beyond the white-hot action on the sports field. People can bet on who will become the new James Bond; people bet on who would end up on the Iron Throne at the end of Game of Thrones. As long as it’s not an open secret - and, again, it would kill the pop in wrestling arenas if the winner was always known ahead of time - then there will be people prepared to bet on it and bookmakers ready to set odds.

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