WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament
First Round
| Match | Winner | Show | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roman Reigns vs. The Big Show | Roman Reigns | WWE Raw | November 9, 2015 | 11:50 |
| Kevin Owens vs. Titus O’Neil | Kevin Owens | WWE Raw | November 9, 2015 | 7:11 |
| The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler | Dolph Ziggler | WWE Raw | November 9, 2015 | 5:01 |
| Sheamus vs. Cesaro | Cesaro | WWE Raw | November 9, 2015 | 15:30 |
| Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze | Dean Ambrose | WWE Raw | November 9, 2015 | 11:05 |
| Neville vs. King Barrett | Neville | WWE SmackDown | November 12, 2015 | 14:10 |
| Ryback vs. Kalisto | Kalisto | WWE SmackDown | November 12, 2015 | 12:00 |
| Alberto Del Rio vs. Stardust | Alberto Del Rio | WWE SmackDown | November 12, 2015 | 9:04 |
Both the odds-on favorite (Reigns) and the undisputed fan favorite (Ambrose) won their first-round matches, as everyone expected. Roman Reigns beat Big Show in the first tournament bout on the November 9 edition of Raw, while Dean Ambrose saw off Tyler Breeze later that night.
Three other tournament matches took place throughout the night: reigning Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens easily defeated Prime Time Players member Titus O’Neil, Dolph Ziggler superkicked The Miz out of the tournament, and Mr. Money in the Bank Sheamus was eliminated in the first round courtesy of Cesaro.
The other three first-round matches happened a few days later on SmackDown: Neville went over King Barrett, the United States Champion Alberto Del Rio advanced with a strong victory against Stardust, and Kalisto scored a huge upset win over Ryback in what was probably the most shocking result of the entire tournament.
Quarter-Finals
| Match | Winner | Show | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Owens vs. Neville | Kevin Owens | WWE Raw | November 16, 2015 | 10:45 |
| Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler | Dean Ambrose | WWE Raw | November 16, 2015 | 16:45 |
| Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro | Roman Reigns | WWE Raw | November 16, 2015 | 20:23 |
| Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto | Alberto Del Rio | WWE Raw | November 16, 2015 | 10:05 |
Kevin Owens was the first wrestler to earn a spot in the semi-finals after beating Neville. As good and exciting as Neville was, there was no doubt about this result. After all, Neville found himself competing in undercard matches against the likes of Bo Dallas, King Barrett, Stardust, and The Ascension week after week, while KO was already the Intercontinental Champion and had even defeated John Cena in his first main roster match.
Next, Dean Ambrose qualified by beating Dolph Ziggler in an entertaining 16-minute contest. This was another result that everyone saw coming a mile ahead, since Ambrose was one of the favorites in the whole tournament while Ziggler had already become that respected veteran whose job was to elevate others.
The best match of the tournament, at least in one man’s opinion, was the quarter-final clash between Roman Reigns and Cesaro. Everyone knew Reigns was going to win, but you could tell fans legitimately thought Cesaro had a chance due to how phenomenal their match was and how believable some of the nearfalls were.
Finally, Kalisto faced Alberto Del Rio. The returning Del Rio was the favorite, but maybe Kalisto could do it again! Unfortunately, they had a pretty basic TV match with the former world champion dominating most of the bout before predictably eliminating Kalisto.
The stage was set: United States Champion Alberto Del Rio would face Roman Reigns while Dean Ambrose would meet the Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens. The winners would then wrestle for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Survivor Series. Who was going to become the new champion?
