The 2015 Survivor Series was the 29th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It took place on November 22, 2015, at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, which was the first time the state hosted the event. The event celebrated The Undertaker's 25th anniversary in WWE, his debut occurring at the 1990 Survivor Series. This was also the last Survivor Series event to be held before the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, and the final Survivor Series event until the 2022 event to not carry the brand supremacy theme.
Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose to win the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship; however, immediately after the match, Sheamus cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Reigns to win the title. In another prominent match, The Undertaker teamed with Kane, thus reuniting The Brothers of Destruction, and defeated The Wyatt Family (represented by Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper).
Production
Background
Survivor Series is an annual gimmick event produced every November by WWE since 1987. The second longest running pay-per-view (PPV) event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, referred to as the "Big Four". The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Announced on July 13, 2015, the 2015 event was the 29th event in the Survivor Series chronology and was scheduled to be held on November 22, 2015, at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, which was the first time the state hosted the event. In addition to airing on traditional PPV, the event was livestreamed on the WWE Network.
Storylines
The event comprised nine matches, including one of the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.
After Seth Rollins retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Hell in a Cell, a number one contender was determined the next night on Raw. Eight wrestlers that were victorious at Hell in a Cell competed in singles matches, with the winners advancing to a fatal four-way match. Roman Reigns emerged victorious and was named the number one contender. However, on November 4, Rollins suffered multiple legitimate knee injuries at a live event in Dublin, Ireland; therefore, the title was vacated and a tournament was set up to crown a new champion. The tournament began on the November 9 episode of Raw, with the semifinals and the final match scheduled for Survivor Series. Since Reigns was already the number one contender, Triple H offered him to pass directly into the finals if he would join The Authority. Reigns refused, preferring to go through the tournament. On the November 16 episode of Raw, Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens, and United States Champion Alberto Del Rio advanced to the semifinals with victories over Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Neville, and Kalisto respectively, setting up Reigns vs. Del Rio and Ambrose vs. Owens in the semifinals at the event.
On the November 2 episode of Raw, Paige defeated Becky Lynch, Brie Bella, and Sasha Banks in a fatal four-way match to earn a Divas Championship match against Charlotte at Survivor Series.
At Hell in a Cell, The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman) attacked The Undertaker after he had lost to Brock Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell match and carried him out of the arena. The following night on Raw, Undertaker's brother Kane confronted The Wyatt Family but was also overpowered and carried out. On the November 9 episode of Raw, The Undertaker and Kane returned and attacked The Wyatt Family. On the November 12 episode of SmackDown, Wyatt challenged the brothers to a tag team match at Survivor Series against two handpicked members of The Wyatt Family, which they accepted.