What’s the story?
There has been a huge shift in the betting odds for WWE Backlash, including the main-event for the WWE championship and the United States title matchup as well.
In case you didn’t know...
In the buildup to Backlash, WWE champion Randy Orton was heavily favoured to win his match against Jinder Mahal, whereas AJ Styles was the favourite to beat Kevin Owens in their United States title bout.
Meanwhile, the Welcoming Committee were underdogs to the team of WWE Smackdown Women’s champion Naomi, Becky Lynch and Charlotte, whereas ‘The Lone Wolf’ Baron Corbin was favoured to beat Sami Zayn.
The heart of the matter
The odds have drastically shifted toward Jinder Mahal, who is now favoured to defeat Randy Orton in the WWE Championship match. It’s essential to note that, as always, the bet only involves the win/loss outcome of the matchup, and if the challenger were to win by Disqualification Orton would still retain his belt owing to him having the ‘champion’s advantage’.
On the other hand, Styles who was initially favoured to defeat Owens in their US title match is now a huge underdog to KO. A couple of other changes in the odds see the Welcoming Committee and Sami Zayn emerge as favourites in their respective matchups. Here are the updated odds for WWE Backlash:
WWE Championship:Randy Orton(c) 7/4 vs Jinder Mahal 2/5
United States Championship:Kevin Owens(c) 1/12 vs AJ Styles 11/2
SmackDown Tag Team Championship:The Usos (c) 1/14 vs Breezango 11/2
Sami Zayn 1/2 vs Baron Corbin 6/4
6 Woman Tag-Team Match:Naomi(c), Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch 5/1 vs Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina 1/10
Shinsuke Nakamura 1/66 vs Dolph Ziggler 11/1
Luke Harper 1/14 vs Erick Rowan 11/2
Tye Dillinger 1/6 vs Aiden English 7/2
Shinsuke was already the odds-on favourite to defeat Dolph Ziggler at Backlash and the numbers discrepancy seems to have widened in favour of the Japanese Superstar. Meanwhile, ‘The Perfect 10’ Tye Dillinger is favoured to beat Aiden English in their pre-show bout.
What’s next?
The upcoming Backlash pay-per-view is SmackDown brand-exclusive and will take place Sunday, May 21st at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
Author’s take:
Well, I’m not a gambling man, so to speak, but these shifts are a tad shocking, to say the least. Jinder Mahal being favoured over Randy Orton in the main event of a WWE PPV! Ladies and gents, what a time to be alive!
In my opinion, the WWE championship matchup may end in Jinder getting Orton DQ’d on purpose, so the Maharajah walks away with the coveted ‘W’ but the Viper still gets to keep his belt. Backlash can’t come soon enough!
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
