A late but expected shift in Royal Rumble betting odds has revealed a new favorite or co-favorite (depending on which sportsbook you follow) to win the 30-man match. While not someone who even appeared in the top-five of odds of the Royal Rumble betting as recent as this morning, Seth Rollins has skyrocketed to the top, now matching and in some books, overtaking Daniel Bryan as the favorite to win.
According to BetOnline, Seth Rollins, who hasn’t been seen on WWE since November 2020, is now a co-favorite with Bryan at +200 to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match. Skybet has gone one further, with Rollins listed as 4/5 to Bryan’s 2/1. Bovada has also advanced Rollins as a short favorite, now coming in at -120 to Bryan’s +200. Oddschecker which aggregates betting odds from multiple sources, is also listing Rollins 5/6 to Bryan’s 3/1. As anyone who has been following the betting odds since the beginning, Bryan has been the sole favorite ever since odds first opened a few months ago. There had been no major movement in the lines, until this afternoon.
Rollins, who has been off TV due to fiancé Becky Lynch recently giving birth to their daughter, has been expected back for sometime. Originally, WWE advertised Rollins’ return for the New Year’s Eve episode of SmackDown, but that did not come to pass. He was quickly removed from all promotional material as it seemed the plans for him changed. That was over a month ago and still no Rollins. It would seem the likely plan then would be for Rollins’ return to come in a little more dramatic and un-advertised as a way. And what better place for that than the Royal Rumble? Rollins has taken part in four rumbles in his career, including each of the last three. In 2019, he won the match and used his opportunity to successfully challenge for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship at WrestleMania 35.
The last Rollins was seen was playing a sacrificial lamb to Team Raw, helping them in their Survivor Series match to defeat Team SmackDown, of which he had only weeks prior joined the blue brand. Rollins, having wrapped up his ongoing feud with Rey and Dominik Mysterio, is ready to move on to something else. Whether or not he does so continuing in his heel Messiah gimmick remains to be seen. By winning the rumble, Rollins could of course opt to challenge Drew McIntyre or Goldberg for the WWE Championship, but all eyes seem to be on Rollins eventually challenging current Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Rollins and Reigns is a feud that writes itself, especially should WWE use the rumble to have Rollins return as a babyface, thus allowing them to run back this feud but with the two men on opposite sides of the alignments. Rollins vs Reigns is a match that would be huge for WrestleMania 37 and it seems if the betting odds are accurate, which they tend to be – prediction tends to be spoiler – when it comes to the rumble, that could be exactly where things are heading.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and catch the Royal Rumble on January 31st, at 7 PM ET.
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