WWE Vengeance

WWE Vengeance is the name of a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by professional wrestling promotion WWE (formerly the World Wrestling Federation, WWF). The inaugural event took place on December 9, 2001 and replaced the regularly scheduled WWE Armageddon for that year. The 2002 event featured the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The event was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand in 2003, and beginning in 2004 it was made exclusive to the Raw brand. In 2007, following WrestleMania, all PPV events became tri-branded. Vengeance took over WWF Fully Loaded's scheduled date in July 2002 and later moved to June in 2005, switching schedules with The Great American Bash. The 2007 event was a crossover event with Night of Champions called Vengeance: Night of Champions. In 2008, Vengeance was retired in favor of keeping Night of Champions as its own event. In 2011, Vengeance would return to replace WWE Bragging Rights on the October 2011 event card. In 2012, Vengeance was removed from the scheduled event calendar for that year. In 2021, the Vengeance name was resurrected as part of the NXT TakeOver series, dubbed NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day.

WWE Vengeance
Vengeance logo used in 2011
Other name(s)Vengeance: Night of Champions (2007)
NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day (2021)
Promotion(s)WWE
Brand(s)Raw (2002, 2004–2007)
SmackDown (2002–2003, 2007)
NXT (2021)
ECW (2007)
First event2001

History

Vengeance is a pay-per-view (PPV) event consisting of a main event and undercard that features championship matches and other various matches. The first event was produced by WWE in 2001, which at that time was still known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The inaugural event took place on December 9, 2001 under the name Vengeance and was held at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California and aired live on PPV. The event was a replacement for Armageddon that year as the name was considered potentially offensive to victims of the September 11 attacks—although the Armageddon PPV would be reinstated in 2002.[1]

In 2002, WWF was court ordered to change their name, which resulted in the promotion changing its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[2] Earlier in the year, the promotion held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown,[3] and the ECW brand was added in 2006.[4] Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first Vengeance event to be produced under the WWE name and with roster limitations was the 2002 Vengeance, which took place on July 21 that year, taking the slot formerly held by Fully Loaded and Invasion in previous years. The following year, WWE announced that PPV events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; Vengeance was made exclusive to the SmackDown! brand in 2003 and then became exclusive to the Raw brand from 2004–2006. The 2006 event was the final Vengeance event that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from April 2007 onwards would no longer be brand exclusive.[5] Only one Vengeance show was held following the change, before it was replaced with Night of Champions the following year (the 2007 event was considered a crossover event for both shows),[6] although it returned for 2011, now held in October slot replacing Bragging Rights.[7] The 2011 event was the final Vengeance until 2021 when WWE revived Vengeance for their NXT brand as a TakeOver event titled Vengeance Day, with the name also being a play on Valentine's Day, as the event will be held on February 14, the same day as the holiday.[8]

Dates and venues
Raw-branded event SmackDown-branded event NXT-branded event
Event Date City Venue Main Event
Vengeance (2001)[9] December 9, 2001 San Diego, California San Diego Sports Arena[10] Chris Jericho (World) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWF) in a unification match for the WWF Championship and World Championship
Vengeance (2002) July 21, 2002 Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena[11] The Undertaker (c) vs. The Rock vs. Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Undisputed Championship[12]
Vengeance (2003)[13] July 27, 2003 Denver, Colorado Pepsi Center[14] Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Big Show in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship[15]
Vengeance (2004)[16] July 11, 2004 Hartford, Connecticut Hartford Civic Center[17] Chris Benoit (c) vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship[18]
Vengeance (2005)[19] June 26, 2005 Paradise, Nevada Thomas & Mack Center[20] Batista (c) vs. Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship[21]
Vengeance (2006)[22] June 25, 2006 Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte Bobcats Arena[23] D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) vs. The Spirit Squad (Kenny, Johnny, Mitch, Nicky, and Mikey) in a 2 on 5 Handicap tag team match
Vengeance: Night of Champions[24] June 24, 2007 Houston, Texas Toyota Center[25] John Cena (c) vs. Mick Foley vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Randy Orton vs. King Booker in a Five Pack Challenge match for the WWE Championship[26]
Vengeance (2011) October 23, 2011 San Antonio, Texas AT&T Center Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. John Cena in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship
NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day February 14, 2021 Orlando, Florida WWE Performance Center TBD
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

See also
  • List of WWE Network events

References
  1. "WWE Vengeance history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  2. "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment". WWE. 2002-05-06. Archived from the original on 2009-01-19. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  3. "WWE Entertainment To Make RAW and SMACKDOWN Distinct Television Brands". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2002-05-27. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  4. "WWE Launches ECW as Third Brand". WWE. 2006-05-25. Archived from the original on 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  5. "WWE Pay-Per-Views To Follow WrestleMania Formula". WWE. 2007-03-14. Archived from the original on March 19, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  6. "Vengeance: Night of Champions Official website". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  7. "WWE Presents Vengeance". WWE. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
  8. WWE.com Staff (January 6, 2021). "NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day set to take place Sunday, Feb. 14". WWE. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  9. Morinaro, John (2001-12-10). "Jericho new WWF World Champion". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  10. "Vengeance (2001) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  11. "Vengeance (2002) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  12. "Vengeance 2002 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  13. Clevett, Jason (2003-07-28). "Angle takes Vengeance on Lesnar". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  14. "Vengeance (2003) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  15. "Vengeance 2003 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  16. Sokol, Chris (2004-07-12). "Canadians have Edge at Vengeance". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  17. "Vengeance (2004) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  18. "Vengeance 2004 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  19. Sokol, Chris (2005-06-27). "Batista retains with a Vengeance". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  20. "Vengeance (2005) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  21. "Vengeance 2005 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  22. Plummer, Dale (2006-06-21). "DX returns with a Vengeance". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  23. Zeigler, Zack (June 24, 2006). "Charlotte Bobcats Arena". WWE. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
  24. Powell, John (2007-06-24). "Vengeance banal and badly booked". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  25. "Vengeance: Night of Champions (2007) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  26. "WWE Champion John Cena def. King Booker, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley & Mick Foley (Challenge Match)". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
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