Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio Will Exceed Expectations at WWE Survivor Series

At WWE Survivor Series on Sunday, Roman Reigns and Alberto Del Rio will meet in the semifinals of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament with the winner advancing to the main event of the evening.

With Reigns considered a strong candidate to capture the prestigious prize, it's fairly predictable he will beat Del Rio when they go one-on-one. The ending outcome won't be what shocks fans, however; it will be the exceptional match quality.

As of this writing, only six matches have been announced for the pay-per-view card, and each of them have the potential to steal the show. Charlotte and Paige might have great chemistry, The Brothers of Destruction vs. The Wyatt Family will be interesting and Dolph Ziggler against Tyler Breeze could very well contest a classic.

With the exception of a few stinkers, most of the matches in the tournament have been spectacular so far. The semifinals should be no different, but the pressure is definitely on for Reigns and Del Rio.

If they are forced to follow Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens, they will have their work cut out for them, but make no mistake about it: Reigns vs. Del Rio will exceed all expectations.

Credit: WWE.com

Del Rio has had an interesting past month in WWE. He made his shocking return to the company at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in late October, beating John Cena in clean fashion to capture the United States Championship.

Since then, he has hardly benefited from the victory because WWE Creative has done next to nothing with him. Granted, he's currently paired with Zeb Colter, but the former foes aren't clicking as well as officials probably hoped they would.

There's still hope for Del Rio's second stint in WWE, but if he wants to get over with the audience, he will have to rely on his incredible in-ring abilities. His boring on-air persona certainly won't help him elicit a reaction.

Although he's been in mid-card purgatory all November long, Del Rio has had a handful of great matches with a wide variety of opponents. Both of his bouts against Neville were entertaining, and his most recent contest with Stardust was solid as well.

In fact, he and Reigns jelled fairly well when they clashed in the Fatal 4-Way match on the Oct. 26 edition of Raw, so there's no reason why they shouldn't deliver an above-average matchup on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Reigns has improved immensely as an in-ring worker over the course of 2015. He was heavily criticized at this time last year for his limited moveset, and although that is still somewhat the case, he has proven himself to be a very credible competitor between the ropes.

His first true test came against the wrestling purist Daniel Bryan at February's Fastlane event, where the two put on a wrestling clinic that saw Reigns emerge victorious as the No. 1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

If that wasn't enough, his strong showing vs. Brock Lesnar the following month at WrestleMania 31 showed his worth as a main-event-level performer.

Even his Last Man Standing match with Big Show managed to turn a few heads, so Reigns will be in a prime position to shine alongside The Mexican Aristocrat in Atlanta. Considering what's at stake in the main event, the drama will undoubtedly be present in all of the close counters and nearfalls.

Say what you will about Reigns and Del Rio being boring on the mic—and that might be true to an extent—but when the bell rings, those two will produce a match far better than anyone could have anticipated.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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