AJ Styles, Becky Lynch and Baron Corbin are heavy favorites achieve victory at WWE No Mercy this Sunday on the WWE Network. The sportsbook 5Dimes has set early lines have for 7 matches at the event and are known to change drastically in the days and hours leading up to the matches themselves. Allow me to break down these matches and odds with my valuable expert analysis.
WWE World Championship Triple Threat
AJ Styles -1050 vs Field of John Cena and Dean Ambrose +550
No surprises with the main event with Styles being heavily favored. He’s considered an asset now by the WWE since he has proven himself to an asset to the promotion and the wise plan would be for AJ to hang onto that championship as long as possible. We also know that John Cena won’t be around due to the filming of American Grit Season 2 and neither will Dean Ambrose because he has another movie to film for WWE Studios.
The storyline of the match revolves around real life issues between John Cena and Dean Ambrose which resulted in some of the deepest, most powerful promos between the two. This began with Ambrose calling Cena a “lazy part timer” and Cena countering that he worked away from the ring to drive WWE into a truly worldwide entity with designs on a Wrestlemania in China. Dean also brought up that John has his own locker room and didn’t bother with the rest of the performers. Cena took issue with this and explained to “you are the sum of the 5 people you surround yourself with and Dean would slow him down. This would continue for weeks and weeks.
Both challengers may end up too focused on each other and lose sight of the WWE Championship and expect Styles to exploit this and squeak out a victory in the midst of the chaos. There is no champions advantage in place as per the rules of a triple threat match do not permit a count out or a disqualification.
Playing the field here is tempting but risky and consider AJ to be a lock here. For entertainment value picking the field of John Cena and Dean Ambrose is the fun pick, but AJ is money in the bank.
WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch -1580 vs Alexa Bliss +750
Massive line for Becky Lynch and I’m very confident she will be able to win so convincingly that the probable finish is Alexa tapping out to Becky clean in the middle of the ring. The risk vs reward is not a smart wager to make. Alexa could pick a win by DQ or count out and drag this feud out another month. A fluke is possible here and Bliss’ “Harley Quinn” cosplay has been catching on and it could be ripe time to elevate Bliss. Stay away from any serious picks on this one.
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship
Heath Slater & Rhyno +140 vs The Usos -180
The tag team championships are slightly favored to change hands, save for the DQ or count out provision. This is a good pick but expect the lines to move further in the direction of The Usos. The new heel gimmick has invigorated this team and it must be capitalized on. Heath Slater & Rhyno had a Cinderella run to the titles and The Usos have too much experience as a team to lose again.
WWE Intercontinental Championship vs Career
The Miz -155 vs Dolph Ziggler +115
These lines will change dramatically and I can’t predict which was it will go. Rumors of Dolph taking a job as a WWE producer exist and most believe he will lose and Ric Flair predicting Ziggler retires make these close odds especially shocking. One would think that The Miz, who is having an epic run as IC Champion, would be more heavily favored in the early market. My pick is The Miz though I’m not especially confident in this backing.
Randy Orton +115 vs Bray Wyatt -155
Randy Orton is a good pick here and it’s puzzling that he is an underdog. I could see this one flipping completely. Orton just lost badly twice to Brock Lesnar and Smackdown could use another fan favorite with steam. WWE has shown no commitment to building Bray Wyatt into a main eventer and if he somehow wins expect Bray to become one. No likely,
Nikki Bella -300 vs Carmella +220
Bella’s the obvious pick with Total Bellas premiering. Nikki has the top name value out of all women that currently compete in the WWE. Awesome feud here, but Carmella is being fed to Nikki. Bella is going after the championship from here.
Preshow Match
Jack Swagger +500 vs Baron Corbin -900
Corbin seems like he’s too favored here and Jack Swagger is a smart pick here because he has more of a chance than 5Dimes is currently giving him. Jack has been repackaged and fans are buying into him again. Don’t get it wrong, Baron is probably winning this, but picking Swagger yields a great reward for little risk. The economics point to Swagger.
Will be interesting to see how the lines change at 5Dimes over the weekend.
