Survivor Series (2015)
Survivor Series | |||
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Philips Arena | |||
Attendance | 14,481 | ||
Tagline(s) | There Is No Greater Survivor | ||
WWE Network event chronology | |||
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Survivor Series chronology | |||
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The 2015 Survivor Series was the 29th annual
Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event,
Production
Background
Storylines
The event comprised nine matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed
After
On the November 2 episode of Raw,
At Hell in a Cell,
On the October 22 episode of SmackDown,
ISIS threat
The
Event
Role: | Name: |
---|---|
English commentators
|
Michael Cole |
Jerry Lawler | |
John "Bradshaw" Layfield
| |
Spanish commentators | Carlos Cabrera |
Marcelo Rodriguez
| |
Backstage interviewers
|
Tom Phillips (Pre-show)
|
Rich Brennan (Pre-show) | |
JoJo
| |
Ring announcers | Lilian Garcia |
Eden Stiles
| |
Referees | Mike Chioda |
Darrick Moore | |
John Cone | |
Charles Robinson | |
Dan Engler | |
Rod Zapata
| |
Jason Ayers | |
Pre-show panel | Renee Young
|
Booker T | |
Corey Graves | |
Byron Saxton |
Pre-show
During the Survivor Series Kickoff pre-show,
Preliminary matches
The actual pay-per-view opened with the semifinals in the tournament for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In the first semifinal, Roman Reigns faced Alberto Del Rio (accompanied by
Next, Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens competed in the second semifinal match. In the end, as Owens attempted a Pop Up Powerbomb, Ambrose countered with a Hurricanrana and executed Dirty Deeds on Owens to win the match and advance to the finals.[17]
After that,
In the fourth match, Charlotte defended the WWE Divas Championship against Paige. During the match, Charlotte executed a Natural Selection on Paige, causing Paige to roll outside the ring. Paige climbed onto the barricade and taunted Charlotte, who also climbed up and executed a Spear on Paige. Charlotte, with her arms under the bottom rope, forced Paige to submit to the Figure Eight Leglock to retain.[17]
In the fifth match, Tyler Breeze faced Dolph Ziggler. Breeze executed an Unprettier on Ziggler to win the match.[17]
In the penultimate match, The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) fought Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper of The Wyatt Family, with Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman at ringside. Before the match, Undertaker and Kane performed a Double Chokeslam on Rowan. During the match, Undertaker and Kane performed a double Chokeslam on Strowman through a broadcast table. In the climax, Wyatt performed a Spider Walk to taunt his opponents, however, the Undertaker and Kane sat up simultaneously. Undertaker and Kane performed a Double Chokeslam on Wyatt and Harper before Undertaker pinned Harper after a Tombstone Piledriver to win the match.[17]
Main event
In the main event, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose fought in the tournament final for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Ambrose leapt off the top rope but was intercepted by Reigns with a
After the match, Reigns celebrated in the ring with his newly won belt as pyrotechnics went off and confetti started falling in the arena.
Reception
The entire event and also "particularly the event's finish, was widely met with negative reviews and utter disappointment from observers", as described by Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports. This was due to "mundane matches that failed to captivate the audience" and "replicated a clunky finish from a pay-per-view just one year earlier", resulting in "a new World Heavyweight Champion in Sheamus that no one desires to see as part of the main event picture". Silverstein highlighted the negative reaction of former WWE Champion Mick Foley, who was "on the verge of becoming a former WWE fan" after seeing how "WWE has completely failed to capitalize not only on the male wrestlers drawing positive reactions from the crowd" like "Ziggler to Cesaro to Kevin Owens", but also the "female performers who are promoted well on the company's NXT developmental show but hardly given any time to 'get over'" on the WWE main roster.[19]
Aaron Oster of Rolling Stone declared that Survivor Series was "a night that started with much promise, but ended in disappointment". While the event was not "awful" due to a "phenomenal" entrance for the Undertaker on his 25th anniversary and three "solid" matches: the tournament semi-finals and the traditional Survivor Series tag match, "the main event ... never connected and concluded in a way that cast a pall over the rest of the show – and quite possibly the company, too." This was because "Sheamus cannot be the guy at the top of your card every night ... When a bad guy's biggest heel quality is his facial hair, it doesn't bode well." Also, it was "hard to buy" Roman Reigns as "a plucky underdog being screwed over by the Authority", when leading into the event Reigns "still seemed like Vince McMahon's handpicked guy". For other topics, Oster said the "whole night was a tribute to the Undertaker", who revived the "dead" crowd. Tyler Breeze's character was enhanced by using the Unprettier move, while Dolph Ziggler, in copying Shawn Michaels' dressing and mannerisms, "just needs to figure out who he is, and quickly." Lastly, Oster questioned, "If they are going to go completely random with the Survivor Series matches, are they really worth having?"[20]
James Cadwell of
John Powell of
Will Pruett of Pro Wrestling Dot Net wrote that "WWE produced an evening filled with flaws, ranging from giant to minor" resulting in a "broken universe". "The largest logical fallacy of Survivor Series was assuming anything being done on this show was being done for any reason other than 'it'll shock everyone' or 'that's how we've always done it'." Commenting on individual wrestlers, Pruett said that Roman Reigns, the 'supposed sympathetic star', 'lost all sympathy' by attacking Triple H, who "hadn't been very evil when it came to Reigns"; "Alberto Del Rio has been noticeably disconnected in his matches since his return last month"; and Sheamus "could be a legitimate WWE Champion at some point", but "WWE seems to abuse his character." Lastly, Pruett felt that the Undertaker's entrance and match was "a life raft of heartfelt joy", "in the sea of negativity and sadness WWE lead me to" at the event.[22]
Aftermath
The post-Survivor Series Raw was the lowest rated non-holiday episode since 1997 and the first time Raw averaged less than three million viewers since then.
On the November 26 episode of SmackDown, Dean Ambrose won a
On the November 23 episode of Raw, to celebrate one year as a tag team, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods) decided to issue an open challenge to anyone who wants to have a shot at winning their
On the November 23 episode of Raw, The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper) (with Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman) defeated
After failing to defeat Charlotte for the WWE Divas Championship at the event, Paige accused her of cheating similar to that of her father Ric Flair on the November 23 episode of Raw. The two faced each other that night in a rematch for the WWE Divas Championship which ended in a double count-out after Paige failed to get back in the ring in time after preventing Charlotte from getting back in first. After the match, Paige continued to attack Charlotte which ended with Paige trapping Charlotte in the PTO on top of the broadcast table.[24] On the November 30 episode of Raw, Charlotte defeated her friend Becky Lynch after she faked a leg injury and her father distracted Lynch to allow her to roll Lynch for the win.[25] Their friendship was further strained on the December 3 episode of SmackDown, when Charlotte attacked Lynch's opponent Brie Bella while locked in the Dis-arm-her after Bella hit her by accident, giving Bella a disqualification win.[28] Afterwards, another title match between Paige and Charlotte was scheduled for TLC.[27]
The 2015 Survivor Series was the last Survivor Series held before the reintroduction of the
Results
No. | Results | Stipulations | Times Money in the Bank cash-in match .0:38 | | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Survivor Series elimination matches
Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method | Time[17] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Viktor | Goldust
|
Pinfall
|
0:30 |
2 | Konnor | Bubba Ray Dudley | 5:27 | |
3 | Neville | The Miz | 8:40 | |
4 | The Miz | Goldust
|
9:05 | |
5 | Bo Dallas | Titus O'Neil | 17:20 | |
6 | Stardust
|
D-Von Dudley | 18:10 | |
Survivor(s): | Goldust, and Titus O'Neil
|
Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method | Time[17] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | King Barrett
|
Sin Cara | Pinfall
|
7:46 |
2 | Jimmy Uso | Xavier Woods | 9:22 | |
3 | Sin Cara | Sheamus | 10:42 | |
4 | Big E | Jey Uso | 11:30 | |
5 | Kofi Kingston | N/A | Countout
|
11:30 |
Xavier Woods | ||||
7 | Sheamus | Ryback | Pinfall
|
17:33 |
Survivor(s): | Ryback, Kalisto, and Jey Uso |
WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament
First Round
Raw | Quarterfinals
Raw | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Roman Reigns | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Big Show | 11:57[9] | ||||||||||||||
Roman Reigns | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Cesaro | 20:23[10] | ||||||||||||||
Cesaro
| 15:30[9] | ||||||||||||||
Sheamus | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Roman Reigns | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Alberto Del Rio | 14:05[17] | ||||||||||||||
Alberto Del Rio | 9:43[11] | ||||||||||||||
Stardust | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Alberto Del Rio | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Kalisto | 10:05[10] | ||||||||||||||
Kalisto | 12:35[11] | ||||||||||||||
Ryback | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Roman Reigns | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Dean Ambrose | 9:02[17] | ||||||||||||||
Titus O'Neil | 6:50[9] | ||||||||||||||
Kevin Owens | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Kevin Owens | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Neville | 10:45[10] | ||||||||||||||
Neville | 15:21[11] | ||||||||||||||
King Barrett | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Kevin Owens | 11:20[17] | ||||||||||||||
Dean Ambrose | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Dolph Ziggler | 5:01[9] | ||||||||||||||
The Miz | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Dolph Ziggler | 16:45[10] | ||||||||||||||
Dean Ambrose | Pin | ||||||||||||||
Dean Ambrose
| 11:08[9] | ||||||||||||||
Tyler Breeze | Pin |
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