After Seth Rollins retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Hell in a Cell,[5] a number one contender was determined the next night on Raw.

[6][7] However, on November 4, Rollins suffered multiple legitimate knee injuries at a live event in Dublin, Ireland; therefore, the title was vacated and a tournament was set up to crown a new champion.

[8] The tournament began on the November 9 episode of Raw, with the semifinals and the final match scheduled for Survivor Series.

[9] On the November 16 episode of Raw, Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens, and United States Champion 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.

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[17] In the main event, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose fought in the tournament final for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

[17] After the match, Reigns celebrated in the ring with his newly won belt as pyrotechnics went off and confetti started falling in the arena.

This was due to "mundane matches that failed to captivate the audience" and "replicated a clunky finish from a pay-per-view just one year earlier", resulting in "a new World Heavyweight Champion in Sheamus that no one desires to see as part of the main event picture".

[19] Aaron Oster of Rolling Stone declared that Survivor Series was "a night that started with much promise, but ended in disappointment".

Tyler Breeze's character was enhanced by using the Unprettier move, while Dolph Ziggler, in copying Shawn Michaels' dressing and mannerisms, "just needs to figure out who he is, and quickly."

"[20] James Cadwell of Pro Wrestling Torch rated the Del Rio-Reigns semi-final three-and-a-half stars out of five, "really good" in spite of the "outcome was never in doubt, removing some of the drama".

The Ambrose-Owens semi-final was rated three-and-a-quarter stars, due to both wrestlers being "really good in the ring and they had strong chemistry building to the finish".

The tournament final was too short to be rated over two-and-three-quarters stars, where "WWE was just not going to waver from the plan to have Reigns win" despite Ambrose enjoying a more favorable reaction.

'"[17] John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer wrote that Survivor Series was "one of, if not the, worst WWE pay-per-view of 2015".

Thirdly, "questionable booking": the world champion heading out of the PPV was earlier "portrayed as an out-of-step idiot, easily pinned and losing the match for his team after being abandoned by The New Day"; "claiming to have a 'Divas Revolution' then pushing nobody but Paige, The Bellas and Charlotte"; the tournament final being a "mediocre rush job" at 9 minutes while the traditional Survivor Series match which was unhyped and had unannounced participants was given almost 20 minutes.

[21] Will Pruett of Pro Wrestling Dot Net wrote that "WWE produced an evening filled with flaws, ranging from giant to minor" resulting in a "broken universe".

Commenting on individual wrestlers, Pruett said that Roman Reigns, the 'supposed sympathetic star', 'lost all sympathy' by attacking Triple H, who "hadn't been very evil when it came to Reigns"; "Alberto Del Rio has been noticeably disconnected in his matches since his return last month"; and Sheamus "could be a legitimate WWE Champion at some point", but "WWE seems to abuse his character."

Lastly, Pruett felt that the Undertaker's entrance and match was "a life raft of heartfelt joy", "in the sea of negativity and sadness WWE lead me to" at the event.

[23] On that episode, Roman Reigns confronted The Authority and demanded a rematch against Sheamus for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship that night.

[24] On the November 30 episode of Raw, Reigns attacked Sheamus during his WWE World Heavyweight Championship celebrations before taking the belt with him.

After the match, Sheamus was helped by Rusev, King Barrett, and Alberto Del Rio, and introduced themselves as The League of Nations.

[25] On the November 26 episode of SmackDown, Dean Ambrose won a triple threat match against Dolph Ziggler and Tyler Breeze to become the number one contender to Kevin Owens' Intercontinental Championship.

[24] On the November 30 episode of Raw, the match to determine the #1 contender between The Usos and The Lucha Dragons ended in a double disqualification after The New Day interfered.

[24] On the November 26 episode of SmackDown, The Dudley Boyz defeated Strowman and Rowan by disqualification after Wyatt Family member Harper interfered in the match.

[26] On the November 30 episode of Raw, The Dudley Boyz introduced Tommy Dreamer, making his return to WWE in over 5 years, to join them in their ongoing fight against The Wyatt Family.

[27] After failing to defeat Charlotte for the WWE Divas Championship at the event, Paige accused her of cheating similar to that of her father Ric Flair on the November 23 episode of Raw.