Verona: Survivor Series (2015)

Survivor Series (2015) is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It will take place on November 22, 2015 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, the first time the state has hosted the event.^[1] The twenty-ninth event under the Survivor Series chronology, this edition will celebrate The Undertaker's 25-year tenure in WWE, which began at the 1990 Survivor Series.

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Background

See also: Professional wrestling

Survivor Series will feature professional wrestling matches that involve wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines that play out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers will portray heroes or villains as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a match or series of matches.^[2]^[3]

At Hell in a Cell, Seth Rollins defeated Kane to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.^[4] The following night on Raw, eight superstars that were victorious at Hell in a Cell competed in singles matches and the winners faced each other in a Fatal 4-Way match, with the winner becoming #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series, in whichRoman Reigns won.^[5]^[6] However, on November 4, Rollins suffered multiple knee injuries at a live event in Dublin, Ireland; therefore, the match was cancelled and the title vacated, with a tournament set up to crown a new champion.^[7] The tournament began on the November 9 episode of Raw. It involved sixteen wrestlers, with the final match scheduled for Survivor Series to determine the new champion. Since Roman Reigns was the #1 contender, Triple H tried to persuade Reigns into joining The Authority and by doing so, Reigns would have automatically been placed in the championship match; he refused, requiring him to compete in the tournament.^[8] On November 19 episode of Raw, Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens and 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.^[9]

On the November 2 episode of Raw, Paige defeated Becky Lynch, Brie Bella and Sasha Banks in a Fatal 4-Way match to earn aDivas Championship match against Charlotte at Survivor Series.^[6]

At Hell in a Cell, The Wyatt Family attacked The Undertaker after he lost to Brock Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell match and carried him out of the arena. The following night on Raw, Kane confronted The Wyatt Family, but was attacked and also carried out of the arena.^[5] On the November 9 episode of Raw, The Undertaker and Kane returned as The Brothers of Destruction and attacked The Wyatt Family.^[8] On the November 12 episode of SmackDown, Bray Wyatt challenged The Brothers of Destruction to a tag team match at Survivor Series against two handpicked members of The Wyatt Family, which they accepted.^[10]

On November 17, it was announced on WWE.com that a Five-on-five traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match would take place at the event.

On the October 22 episode of SmackDown, Tyler Breeze made his WWE debut and attacked Dolph Ziggler.^[11] On the October 29 episode of SmackDown, after Ziggler defeatedThe Miz, Breeze attacked Ziggler.^[12] On the November 2 episode of Raw, Breeze distracted Ziggler during Ziggler's match with Kevin Owens, allowing Owens to get the victory.^[6] On the November 19 episode of SmackDown, after Breeze defeated Zack Ryder, Ziggler attacked Breeze. Later in the show, it was announced that Ziggler would face Breeze at the event.^[13]

ISIS threat

On November 21, 2015, the FBI announced that they were investigating an alleged threat by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at the event. The FBI released the statement, "The FBI is aware of reports of an alleged threat that includes an Atlanta, Georgia venue and event. While we take all threats seriously, we do not have specific or credible information of an attack at this time. We have, however, made the proper notifications as we continue to work closely with our law enforcement and private sector partners to keep our community safe."^[14] International Business Times reported that the hacker group Anonymous were responsible for uncovering the information. WWE released a statement claiming that the show will go on as scheduled.^[15]

Matches

No.	Matches	Stipulations
1	Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio	Tournament semifinal match^[16]
2	Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens	Tournament semifinal match^[17]
3	Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze	Singles match^[18]
4	Charlotte (c) vs. Paige	Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship^[19]
5	The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) vs. The Wyatt Family (2/4 out of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan or Braun Strowman)	Tag team match^[20]^[21]^[22]
6	TBD vs. TBD	Five-on-five traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match^[23]
7	TBD vs. TBD	Tournament final match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship^[24]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match