WWE Survivor Series 2015 Results: Matches That Lived Up to the Hype

Hype can be a dangerous thing.

It can lead fans to emotionally invest in what they might see, setting them up for inevitable disappointment when they do not. Conversely, it can lead to great surprise and astonishment when a match or segment exceeds their expectations.

With four talented individuals the likes of Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, Alberto Del Rio and Roman Reigns making up the field for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament at Survivor Series 2015, fans presumed that both the semifinals and finals would serve as the backbone of the show, making or breaking it.

Considering the effort that went into injecting intense emotion into the Divas Championship feud between Paige and Charlotte, fans expected some sort of wild and chaotic brawl to set the stage for subsequent matches. 

And then there was The Undertaker's return to Survivor Series, his partnership with Kane and their match with The Wyatt Family. He could not possibly have lived up to previous performances, and there was no way that the talent involved would've delivered a quality match.

There was a substantial amount of buzz surrounding Sunday's pay-per-view event, and the majority of it can be attributed to expectations of spectacular matches and history-making swerves. While the latter did not happen, leaving some disappointed with the broadcast, the former most certainly did.

Which matches lived up to the hype?

Let's take a look.

Credit: WWE.com

Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio

Say what you will about Roman Reigns, form any opinions you want, but the juggernaut has had a tremendous 2015 from an in-ring perspective, delivering outstanding, high-profile matches against opponents of varying sizes, styles and quality.

Sunday night, he added to his resume with a show-stealing opening contest in which he defeated Alberto Del Rio with the Spear.

The contest was full of dramatic near-falls and certainly benefited from a molten-hot crowd, half of it behind the babyface, while the other half supported his much more boring and staler opponent.

Regardless of whom one picked to support, both stars delivered a quality match that set the tone for the rest of the evening's spectacular.

Reigns won the match, and rightfully so, once again proving himself to the fanbase, even if it refused to see it.

Sure, there was some questionable selling of his arm, which had been worked over repeatedly by Del Rio over the course of the bout, but that was a recurring problem throughout the night, as witnessed in the match that proceeded it.

Credit: WWE.com

Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens

Anytime two Superstars with the reputations of Ambrose and Owens share a ring, as they did Sunday night in the second semifinal bout of the evening, fans expect to see a great match. And they did, courtesy of two of the best performers in the industry.

Ambrose and Owens delivered an action-packed, fast-paced match that hardly gave fans the opportunity to grow disinterested. Even as Owens trapped his opponent in a chinlock, he did such a fantastic job of manipulating the audience and evoking boos from them by running his mouth. "Chinlock City!" he exclaimed as he tried to force a submission from his opponent. 

In the end, Ambrose countered two Pop-Up Powerbomb attempts and flattened the intercontinental champion with Dirty Deeds to advance into the final round of the competition.

Was the match any better than an elongated SmackDown or Raw television main event? No, because it didn't have to be. It simply needed to be the same great match fans have come to expect from the performers involved, regardless of setting—and it succeeded.

Credit: WWE.com

The Undertaker and Kane vs. The Wyatt Family

Every bit of marketing for Sunday's Survivor Series focused on the 25th anniversary of The Undertaker's debut in World Wrestling Entertainment. As such, The Phenom's match against The Wyatt Family was one of the show's biggest and most hyped matches.

Yet expectations were low, what with the age of the babyfaces slowing them down so considerably.

On one night, with the eyes of the wrestling world once again on The Deadman and his brother Kane, The Brothers of Destruction delivered one more quality performance in a tag team match that had no reason to be as good or as entertaining as it was.

Undertaker and Kane picked up the win, all the while providing fans with the moments they wanted out of the bout.

They chokeslammed Braun Strowman through an announce table and did the stereo sit-up spot, and The Undertaker finished off Luke Harper with the Tombstone to send fans home happy.

On a night celebrating the accomplishments of WWE's greatest icon, he and his peers lived up to the hype by delivering a total package (entrance, match, exit) that perfectly encapsulated the character's aura.