Vengeance is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE. The event was first held in December 2001, replacing Armageddon for that year due to the possible insensitivity of the latter's name with respect to the 9/11 tragedy. In 2002, Vengeance replaced WWF Fully Loaded's schedule date, making it an annual event in July and featured the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The event was made exclusive to the SmackDown! brand in 2003 and then was made exclusive to the Raw brand in 2004. In 2005, the event was moved to June, switching schedules with The Great American Bash. In 2007, after WrestleMania 23, all PPV events became tri-branded, and Vengeance was promoted as Night of Champions which featured all WWE titles being defended.
In 2008, the event dropped the Vengeance name and is now named Night of Champions, later moving to September in 2010. After tentatively scheduling Night of Champions in 2011, the October-held Bragging Rights was cancelled, being replaced by the event once again under the Vengeance name.
In February 2021, WWE revived Vengeance for the NXT brand as a TakeOver event called Vengeance Day, which was the first and only Vengeance to air on the WWE Network in addition to traditional PPV. The name was also a reference to its Valentine's Day scheduling. The TakeOver series was discontinued that September, however, Vengeance continued on under the Vengeance Day name with the 2022 event being held as a special episode of NXT 2.0. This established Vengeance Day as NXT's annual Valentine's event.
Vengeance contains examples of:
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- 2001: Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and then "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to become the first ever WWF Undisputed Champion after Booker T interfered.
- 2002: The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) defeated Hulk Hogan and Edge for the WWE World Tag Team Titles.
- 2003: Jamie Noble defeated Billy Gunn, Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Benoit to claim the reinstated U.S title, The World's Greatest Tag Team defeated Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman, Sable defeated Stephanie McMahon, and Vince McMahon defeated Zac Gowen.
- 2004: Batista defeated Chris Jericho.
- 2005: Carlito defeated Shelton Benjamin to retain the Intercontinental title.
- 2006: Randy Orton defeated Kurt Angle in what turned out to be the latter's final PPV match in his original WWE run, Umaga defeated Eugene, Johnny Nitro defeated Shelton Benjamin, and Carlito to win the Intercontinental Title, and Impostor Kane defeated Kane.
- 2007: Chavo Guerrero defeated Jimmy Wang Yang to retain the Cruiserweight title, Johnny Nitro defeated CM Punk to win the vacant ECW World title, MVP defeated Ric Flair to retain the U.S. title, Deuce and Domino defeated Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper to retain the WWE Tag Team title, Edge defeated Batista (by count-out) to retain the World Heavyweight title.
- 2011: The Miz and R-Truth defeated CM Punk and Triple H thanks to interference by Kevin Nash. Alberto Del Rio defeated John Cena in a Last Man Standing match to retain the WWE Title thanks to the interference by The Miz and R-Truth. Dolph Ziggler defeated Zack Ryder to retain his United States Championship. Beth Phoenix beat Eve Torres to retain her Divas Championship. Mark Henry and Big Show ended in a no-contest due to the ring being destroyed, but Henry nevertheless retained his title.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Triple H was undefeated in one-on-onenote Hell in a Cell matches, having winning 4 of them in his career at that time. This changed in 2005 when Batista defeated him.
- The Chew Toy: Both Kane and CM Punk have never won a match at this event.
- Commuting on a Bus: Vengeance debuted in 2001 and lasted until 2007. It returned in 2011. It returns under the new name Vengeance Day and is exclusive to the NXT brand.
- Covers Always Lie: Triple H was on the 2001 cover even though he did not appear at the event due to an injury.
- Defeating the Undefeatable:
- In 2004, Edge ended Randy Orton's seven month reign as Intercontinental champion.
- In 2005, Batista became the first wrestler to defeat Triple H one-on-one inside Hell in a Cell.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory:
- 2002: Rob Van Dam defeats Brock Lesnar after Paul Heyman pulled the referee.
- 2004: La Résistance defeated Eugene and Ric Flair by disqualification to retain their titles after Eugene pushed the referee.
- 2006: In their third fall in their two-out-of-three falls match, Mick Foley attacks Ric Flair with a trash can, which led Flair winning the match.
- 2007: Santino Marella defeated Umaga via disqualification due to Umaga ignoring the referee's count as he was punching Santino continuously.
- Double Knockout: In 2011, the match between The Big Show and Mark Henry ended at a no contest after they collapsed the ring via a superplex.
- Final Battle: In 2005, then-World Heavyweight Champion Batista and Triple H fought inside Hell in a Cell, which served as the culmination of their heated feud of that year.
- History Repeats:
- Kurt Angle has competed for the World title in this event during its first three incarnations, the last two both being Triple Threat matches.
- John Cena was the defending champion in the 2005 and 2007 events.
- Carlito and Shelton competed with each other for the Intercontinental title twice in this event. First in 2005, then in 2006 in a Triple-Threat match that also involved Johnny Nitro.
- In 2011, Mark Henry superplexed The Big Show, collapsing the ring in the process, much like in Show's encounter with Brock Lesnar 8 years prior on SmackDown. Braun Strowman would do the exact same thing in 2017.
- Literal Ass-Kissing: In 2006, Mitch was made to kiss Triple H's ass. His face was shoved in by Shawn Michaels.
- Mêlée à Trois: A few have taken place at the event:
- 2002: The Undertaker vs Kurt Angle vs The Rock for the WWE Title.
- 2003: Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle vs The Big Show for the WWE title.
- 2005: John Cena vs Chris Jericho vs Christian for the WWE Title.
- 2006: Shelton Benjamin vs Johnny Nitro vs Carlito for the Intercontinental Title.
- 2007: The Championship challenge which featured John Cena, Mick Foley, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton, and King Booker with the WWE Title on the line.
- Mirror Match: The 2006 event had Kane going against an impostor who was dressed like the masked Kane.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In the 2006 event, Mick Foley attacks Ric Flair with a trash can, which resulted in a disqualification in their third bout in the 2-out-of-3 falls match, and then viciously assaults him with the barbed-wire bat, busting him wide open.
- The Show Must Go On:
- In 2011, the Last Man Standing match between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio still took place in the ring that had been trashed by The Big Show and Mark Henry previously.
- The 2007 event was supposed to have a match between Chris Benoit and CM Punk for the ECW World Championship (ECW having being revived by WWE as a third brand in 2006). However, Benoit no-showed due to a "family emergency" (the real reason would be revealed the next day...) and his spot in the match was taken by Johnny Nitro, who went on to defeat Punk and win his first and only world title in WWE.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Kurt Angle only won once at this event, but that sole victory was for the WWE title after coming back from a neck injury.
- Tournament Arc: The 2001 event featured a four-man tournament to determine the first WWE Undisputed Champion, which Chris Jericho won.
