It’s that time of the year where we all start talking about “The Road to WrestleMania” and that can only mean one thing – it’s time for the 2014 Royal Rumble! Last month at WWE TLC we saw Randy Orton defeat John Cena to unify the WWE and World Heavyweight Titles, but it did not settle all of the issues between the two men. As a result we have one more go-around between the two men, but a title change at this point would muddy the waters of the Rumble match itself, where the lone survivor of 30 men gets a world title shot at WrestleMania. Not surprisingly the odds makers have Orton a heavy favorite this Sunday, -2000 to John Cena’s +1000. If the title match isn’t the main event though, Cena could come back in the Rumble itself. Anything is possible. On the other hand it seems virtually impossible for The Big Show to defeat Brock Lesnar this Sunday. Lesnar has declared himself the de facto #1 contender to the winner of Orton vs. Cena, disregarding the 30 man Rumble entirely, and so far Show has been the only one to argue. At a whopping -50,000 in favor of Lesnar, that argument was clearly not convincing. It’s not often that I outright say no one should bet on a longshot, but +10,000 is not compelling enough reason to believe Show will get the upset. Consider if this were a MMA fight instead of a wrestling match and the odds would be almost identical – that’s all you need to know. Don’t be afraid to take a chance on Daniel Bryan (+400) vs. Bray Wyatt (-600) though. The book reflects the long standing rumors that there are “plans for Wyatt at WrestleMania,” and also reflect the old adage that if you win on Monday you lose on Sunday. Bryan’s team not only defeated the Wyatt Family on Raw, Bryan himself got personal revenge against his short-lived mentor. That makes Wyatt the obvious favorite to get the upper hand on PPV, but if WWE hears the crowd roaring “YES! YES! YES!” in unison they may make a last second change. Other interesting odds going into the Royal Rumble are out there if you want to play the game (and I don’t mean Triple H). Batista is -350 to run the table in the Rumble elimination, with the entire rest of the field at +250. CM Punk has a line for the Rumble as well, but it’s nowhere near as good – the field gets -1,050 and he gets +550. If Daniel Bryan sneaks in despite his singles match, the field is -1,200 and he’s +600. The field gets their biggest advantage against Roman Reigns, who is -4,500 to +1,500 – reflecting the consensus it’s “too soon” for Reigns to be in the world title picture. Last but not least the New Age Outlaws are surprisingly strong favorites (-2,000) to dethrone Cody Rhodes & Goldust as the tag team champions. One would suspect they have The Authority (Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and Kane) in their back pocket to ensure things go their way. We shall see! All descriptions and accounts in this article are for entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be taken as actual gambling advice. WWE events are pre-scripted and the odds tend to reflect the creative direction of the writing team, though WWE has been known to make last minute changes before. If you do wager on the PPV, please gamble responsibly. Enjoy WWE Royal Rumble 2014 this Sunday!
