There’s no denying the fact that betting on sports is big business. It has been ever since the US Supreme Court made its historic 2018 decision to overturn the long-standing ban on the activity. Very soon after the ruling several states, led by New Jersey, saw the gradual opening of sportsbooks. Obviously, it’s been football and basketball that have led the way in terms of popularity, but plenty of other sports feature too.
One of the more surprising of these is wrestling. Or perhaps it’s not quite so surprising as it’s a sport that has also been used in everything from video games to online slots games, so why not bet on it too?
For all of its razzmatazz and excitement there’s one very significant reason why people might be sceptical about betting on wrestling. That reason is that there’s a large grey area that makes it a little uncertain about whether this really is a sport or scripted entertainment.
Anyone who’s ever watched wrestling will be familiar with its typical tropes. There is usually a villain, given the nickname of the top heel, and an innocent with the very appropriate name of the baby face.
Often this is also played out as a long-running feud and the sport has a long history of these.
But the fact that there are so many theatrics involved hardly gives a great deal of confidence that the outcome will genuinely be a surprise.
Nevertheless, a number of sportsbooks do allow betting on wrestling. That’s because while there’s an undoubted script to most bouts, the actual outcomes are kept as closely guarded secrets. Occasionally, these results are leaked to the general public on so-called “dirt sheets”, but still a number of sports books continue to offer odds on the encounters.
Types of wrestling bet
There are four main types of wrestling bet that cover most of the eventualities, as well as most kinds of bout.
Match Win
The simplest form of bet in wrestling is the match win. As the name suggests, this is just a bet on which one of the fighters is going to win a contest. This does become a little more complicated when there are a number of wrestlers involved in a bout. Wins can be achieved through a pin, submission, count out, knockout, disqualification or forfeit and some sportsbooks may even let you specify how the fighter will gain their victory. Naturally, this will offer you the chance to get even better odds.
Title Retention
This slightly differs from a match win bet because it allows for the possibility that there may not be a single overall winner. This applies when it’s a title fight for the particular category and the holder of the title just needs to avoid losing. This can happen in the case of a disqualification, count out, forfeit, draw or no contest. The odds for this will be lower than for a match win, but it can be a good bet to place, all the same.
Near Fall
Uniquely for any sport, in wrestling you can also bet on a wrestler almost winning the match. This is when a wrestler pins their opponent to the floor and the referee begins the count to three. But if the pinned fighter struggles and succeeds to break out of the pin then it’s classified as being a near fall. If you place a bet like this you put it on the potential “pinner” and all it takes to win it is for a near fall to happen at any point in the bout.
Top Heel or Babyface
We’ve already mentioned the top heel and babyface division. This is similar to a match win, just that you’re betting on the good guys, or gals, or the villains of the piece.
There is also quite a lively fantasy sports betting market for wrestling. Only appropriate, some might say for a sport that’s as much acting and fantasy as it’s reality.
Where betting’s not allowed
There are certain states in which betting on sports is allowed, but wrestling is strictly forbidden. Some examples of these are Colorado, Michigan and Indiana. This is because in these states bouts are categorised as fixed-outcome events so it would effectively be the same as betting on the outcome of a play.
However there is some movement with the WWE working with the consultancy EY to ensure the secrecy of the results. This is the organisation which is entrusted with keeping the annual results of the Academy Awards secret until they’re revealed at the ceremony each March.
Whether this will come to pass and there becomes widespread acceptance of betting on wrestling remains to be seen. But, for the meantime, fans in many states and countries can safely bet on their favourite fighters and events.
