Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio: Winner, Reaction from WWE Survivor Series 2015

Roman Reigns came one step closer to winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time Sunday night at Survivor Series by defeating Alberto Del Rio in a world title tournament semifinal match.

Reigns landed a spear on Del Rio to capture the pinfall and advance to the final where he will meet the winner of the bout between Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose, per WWE Universe: 

WrestlingINC.com praised Del Rio's work in the ring despite the loss:

Both Reigns and Del Rio won quarterfinal matches on Raw against Cesaro and Kalisto respectively, and they entered Survivor Series needing just two victories to become the company's top dog.

Reigns came agonizingly close to earning that distinction at WrestleMania 31 in a match against Brock Lesnar. The former Shield powerhouse seemed to be closing in on a win over Lesnar, but Seth Rollins interrupted and successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract.

The leader of the Roman Empire has been in pursuit of the title ever since, although he was sidetracked along the way by Bray Wyatt and his family.

After finally vanquishing the Eater of Worlds, however, Reigns set his sights back on Rollins. Reigns earned the No. 1 contendership and was set to face Rollins at Survivor Series, but a serious knee injury prompted a change of plans.

Rollins was forced to vacate the championship, and while Triple H gave Reigns an opportunity to bypass the tournament by joining The Authority, The Juggernaut ultimately stayed true to his morals by opting to earn the title instead.

Del Rio hoped to provide a roadblock and capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in his own right for the first time since 2011.

Mexico's Greatest Export shockingly returned to WWE at Hell in a Cell as John Cena's opponent in the U.S. Open Challenge. Del Rio defeated Cena cleanly for the United States Championship, and aligned himself with former foe Zeb Colter in the process.

As evidenced by this tweet courtesy of Colter, Del Rio has tried to spread the gospel of MexAmerica in addition to capturing as much gold as possible in WWE:

Despite his impressive track record, ADR entered Survivor Series as a substantial underdog due largely to the fact that Reigns was the clear favorite.

The expected result ultimately came to pass as Reigns triumphed and denied Del Rio the chance to become a double champion.

Having Reigns win was the correct result for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it will allow Del Rio to focus on maintaining the prestige that Cena brought to the United States Championship.

Reigns is much better suited to vie for the world title than Del Rio at this point in time, and he will get that opportunity in the finals of what has been a highly entertaining and dramatic tournament thus far.

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