WWE News: Updated Brackets For World Heavyweight Championship Tournament [Semifinals]


With the go-home episode of Monday Night Raw having come and gone, we now know that the semifinals of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament at Survivor Series will be Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio and Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens.

All four quarterfinal matches took place on WWE Raw Monday night, and all four matches ended as expected. As confirmed by WWE, Survivor Series 2015 will host the final three matches of the tournament to crown a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Kevin Owens defeated Neville — The first official match on tonight’s episode of Raw, the announce team put a big emphasis on the fact that both competitors are former NXT Champions and that they had crossed paths a few times in the past. Neville set up for the Red Arrow early on, but Owens managed to roll out of the way. Shortly after returning from the show’s first commercial break, Owens superkicked Neville off of the apron and almost won via count out. Over the next several minutes, Neville would unsuccessfully set up for the Red Arrow three more times, and Owens would attempt the Pop-Up Powerbomb unsuccessfully one time before finally connecting and advancing in the tournament to face the winner of the Dean Ambrose/Dolph Zigggler match.

Dean Ambrose defeated Dolph Ziggler — Recent Ziggler rival Tyler Breeze had a match just before this match (earning a win over R-Truth), but he is gone from ringside before this match started, and nothing was mentioned about it during the match. Ambrose was uncharacteristically flustered a little bit against Ziggler, growing frustrated in this face-against-face match-up. They were faced with a potential double count-out after both men fell off the top ropes, but it marked the match’s commercial break and the action was back in the ring when we returned. In the end, Ambrose connected with his finisher — Dirty Deeds — and officially set up the first semifinal match: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens.

Roman Reigns defeated Cesaro — A few minutes before the match, Triple H approached Cesaro backstage to let him know that he seemed to be the total package and tonight was his opportunity to “grab the brass ring” and do “whatever it takes” to win his match. Reigns was the first man announced for the match, and he cut a pretty standard Roman Reigns promo before the match started. Despite the fact that the WWE Universe voted for Cesaro as their choice for the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Reigns was considered the favorite going into the match. As usual, Cesaro brought out the best in his opponent, making Reigns look like he’s ready to be a main eventer. In the longest of the four quarterfinal matches, Reigns predictably got the win after a Superman Punch and a Spear.

Alberto Del Rio defeated Kalisto — As EWrestlingNews reported, Alberto Del Rio is getting paid about $500k per year, which may be a bit of an over payment, considering the United States Champion accidentally exposed Kalisto’s face during the match. It was an awkward moment for both wrestlers, and they struggled to recover completely before the end of the match. Predictably, Del Rio defeated one half of the Lucha Dragons to earn a spot against Roman Reigns at Survivor Series after sloppily connecting with his new top-rop double-stomp finisher.

WWE’s 29th annual Survivor Series will be live from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, November 22. The show will air live at 8:00 EST and be available on-demand through the WWE Network.

[Image via WWE]

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