What we learned from WWE Survivor Series 2015

WWE had a landmark night on Sunday, as they rolled into Atlanta to present the 29th annual Survivor Series pay-per-view. The event was the culmination of a tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, with the guarantee of a new champion in the wake of Seth Rollins’ injury that forced him to vacate the title.

Elsewhere, the co-main event was a celebration of the Undertaker, a character that made his debut at the 1990 iteration of the Survivor Series.

Survivor Series featured two excellent matches, the lack of a swerve that everyone was expecting and the world title ending up changing hands twice. Here’s everything that happened and what it all means going forward.

In the first of two traditional Survivor Series tag team matches (neither of which had its participants announced ahead of time), Goldust made his surprise return. He faced off against his brother Stardust and led his team to victory. Only Neville was eliminated from the winning team, as Goldust, the Dudley Boyz and Titus O’Neil were the sole survivors.

What we learned: Goldust is back! He’s been out with a shoulder injury since May and now it looks like he’ll be starting up his feud with his brother Stardust once again. We weren’t able to glean much else from this match, but it’s sure nice to see Titus O’Neil and Bo Dallas get a couple spots on the PPV. One wonders what’s become of Titus’ tag team partner Darren Young, however ...

The semifinals of the world title tournament ran back-to-back to kick off the PPV proper, which was a terrific choice. The focus of the evening remained on the world title chase all night and the tournament was built up to be the big deal that it is.

Reigns and Del Rio had a terrific match that surprised a lot of people. This was the only no-doubt result of the evening and both man still managed to have us buying near falls and false finishes near the end. Terrific. Reigns got the pin after a spear and advanced to the finals.

What we learned: Yes, Alberto Del Rio is still capable of a hell of a lot when he has the right opponent. This match also continued Reigns’ streak of phenomenal matches and if you were wondering when it’s time to stop chalking that up to his opponents ... that moment came and went months ago.

After the match, Reigns gave his best buddy Dean Ambrose a pep talk because they’re best bros ride or die forever and neither of them would ever do anything to screw over the other FOR SURE.

TOTALLY FOR SERIOUS.

Two matches into the PPV, two awesome matches in the books. Following a hot finishing run, Ambrose managed to avoid Owens’ pop-up powerbomb and hit Dirty Deeds for the pin to advance.

What we learned: Owens is still a top-level heel and Ambrose is still someone the crowd loves. FOR NOW, ANYWAY. This match could have gone either way and both men looked strong coming out of it. Owens still has the potential to challenge for the world title in the near future, while remaining a legitimate Intercontinental Champion who came a hair’s breadth from the top prize in the company.

Another match that wasn’t announced ahead of time saw King Barrett get eliminated early. After a series of eliminations, Sheamus and Big E exchanged words. That led to Big E getting eliminated and the rest of the New Day walking out, leaving Sheamus on his own against three members on the other team. After three finishers, Sheamus was pinned and the sole survivors were Kalisto, Jey Uso and Ryback.

What we learned: Xavier Woods continues to have the best hair. The New Day’s antics and pre-match promo were hilarious and wonderful, while leaving Sheamus out to dry as a complete dweeb, both on the mic and in the ring (on purpose).

At the end of a lengthy match, Charlotte got Paige to tap out to the Figure Eight.

What we learned: WWE did their best to downplay Paige’s comments from Monday’s RAW about Charlotte’s late brother, Reid. It’s likely Sunday night was the last we’ll hear him referenced in any form.

Charlotte picked up a decisive victory and can move on to her next challenger and feud. However, it is worth noting that she may have been partially under the ropes when Paige tapped, which could lead to an instant rematch on RAW or can be fuel to have this feud continue.

The newest member of the WWE main roster, male supermodel Tyler Breeze, picked up a big win on his first pay-per-view, defeating Ziggler by pinfall with the Unprettier.

What we learned: In an interview on the Kickoff Show, Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae proved they have what it takes to be loathed heels, not caring enough to dignify most of Tom Phillips’ questions with a response. (“You should Googs it. It’s an abbrev, Tom.”) A couple hours later, Ziggler proved he could back up his sass in the ring. If anyone had any concerns about Breeze’s character not working outside of NXT (like the fate Adam Rose suffered), it doesn’t look like there’s anything to worry about.

As WWE has been reminding us all month, this year’s Survivor Series is the 25th anniversary of the WWF debut of The Undertaker, which is a remarkable feat no matter how you slice it. Undertaker made a spectacular entrance (even for him), coming out to fire and lightning while standing under a massive open door that cycled through images of his various incarnations over the past 25 years.

The storyline of this match is that the Wyatt Family beat down both Undertaker and his brother Kane last month and aimed to usurp their fel magicks. Kane and Undertaker agreed to face two members of Bray Wyatt’s faction, but they wouldn’t know which two ahead of time. It ended up being Bray and Luke Harper, with Bray holding back his ultimate weapon, Braun Strowman.

The Wyatts put up a fight, but ultimately, Undertaker hit a Tombstone on Luke Harper to get the pinfall and the victory.

What we learned: One very large test still looms in Undertaker’s feud with the Wyatt Family: Braun Strowman. Even though Kane and Undertaker laid out Strowman with a double chokeslam through the table, that doesn’t settle anything. Wyatt still has one weapon left in his arsenal and you can believe he intends to use it. While this feud (which is now in its second go-round this year) may have been one-sided so far, it doesn’t end until it runs through Strowman.

I could be wrong! This feud may very well be over. The one thing we can be certain of: it’s beyond impressive that we’ve been watching the Undertaker wrestle for 25 friggin’ years.

The final match of the night and of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament came down to the two best friends and former Shield stablemates, which was fitting.

Both men went nonstop in this match, threw bombs and traded finishers. Reigns finally got the win when he caught a running Ambrose with a third spear of the match and scored the pinfall for his first world title.

What we learned: Every wrestling fan in the world was expecting one of these men to turn on the other if they ended up meeting in the finals. So WWE pulled the biggest swerve of all and didn’t swerve anyone, instead going with a straight-up babyface vs. babyface match between the two men.

BUT THEN ...

After Reigns won the tournament and the world title, fireworks went off and a deluge of confetti fell from the rafters. Triple H, the leader of the villainous Authority, came out to congratulate Reigns and shake his hand. Instead, Reigns hit Triple H with a spear. But when he turned around to celebrate, he was met by a Brogue Kick from the Money in the Bank holder, Sheamus.

Sheamus then hastily cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and the referee rang the bell to start the impromptu world championship match. After a second Brogue Kick, Sheamus became the new world champ. He and Triple H celebrated together, mocking Reigns, as the PPV went off the air.

What we learned: Reigns has made a very dangerous enemy in Triple H. Even if Triple H isn’t entirely comfortable with Sheamus being champion -- which he may not be, judging by the look on his face as Sheamus celebrated -- he obviously prefers this to Reigns holding the world title.

Reigns is once again robbed of the ultimate prize and will continue his chase. Sheamus’ fourth world title reign may not last long, but it has already started playing mind games with Reigns.

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