After a tumultuous month since WWE Money in the Bank which saw Dean Ambrose win the world title by cashing in a Money in the Bank briefcase, which we later learned was because Roman Reigns was about to be suspended for failing a drug test, we arrive at WWE Battleground on July 24, 2016. If that alone didn’t shake things up enough in the WWE landscape, we also had the landmark return of the WWE draft on the inaugural Tuesday edition of SmackDown Live, now to be a regular weekly occurrence instead of the occasional special event due to special or competing events on Thursday nights. As a result Impact Wrestling fled back to their original home OF Thursdays but that’s neither here nor there because today we’re going to discuss how this all affects the betting odds for the PPV on Sunday night. With the current state of the brands now that the roster has been split in two, WWE Raw is left without a world champion thanks to Dean Ambrose being drafted to SmackDown. You might think this means that Ambrose is losing to either his rival Seth Rollins or his friend Roman Reigns in the triple threat, but curiously enough Ambrose is the heavy favorite at -530, with Rollins and Reigns both coming in at +500 dogs. This defies the conventional “win on TV, lose at PPV” logic since Ambrose pinned Rollins on SmackDown Live, but if you read between the lines it may suggest they’re taking the brand split seriously (this time) and that they actually want Ambrose to win to make SmackDown look like an equal to Raw and not “the B show.” Does that mean they’ll bring back a second world title just to put one on somebody from Raw though? You bet your ass they will. For much the same reason we have the team of John Cena, Enzo Amore & Big Cass as sizable betting favorites at -530 to go over The Club (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) at +350. Once again it’s a matter of John Cena being drafted to SmackDown, which means that as the top draw of the Raw brand for many years he’s expected to play a similar role in the reborn SD brand. This is why you’re not betting on “wrestlers” in these situations. Don’t bet on who is more physically dominant or athletically gifted — bet on what you think makes the most since to Vince McMahon and his team of writers. You might expect them to flip the U.S. Title to Raw to give that brand a little more gold, but Rusev is a heavy -900 favorite (literally) over Zack Ryder at +500. Woo woo woo, don’t bet it bro. There’s a good chance of The Miz going down to Darren Young though, who is currently the -210 fave over the IC champ at +160. And since the titles aren’t on the line, the soon to be broken up Wyatt Family are -400 in a six-man tag against The New Day at +280. Remember that all previews are for entertainment purposes and if you wager to only bet what you can afford. Enjoy WWE Battleground on Sunday!
WWE Battleground 2016 Preview and Latest Odds
