Vengeance (2005) — BrandWiki

Vengeance (2005)

Overview

Vengeance

tagline	Hell in a Cell
promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
brand	Raw
date	June 26, 2005
venue	Thomas & Mack Center
city	Las Vegas, Nevada
attendance	9,850‡R1R‡
buyrate	420,000‡R2R‡
lastevent	ECW One Night Stand
nextevent	The Great American Bash
event	Vengeance
lastevent2	2004
nextevent2	2006

The 2005 Vengeance was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the fifth annual Vengeance and took place on June 26, 2005, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division.

The main event was a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Batista and Triple H, which Batista won by pinfall after executing a Batista Bomb. One of the predominant matches on the card was John Cena versus Chris Jericho versus Christian in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship. Cena won the match and retained the title after pinning Christian. Another primary match on the undercard was Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels in a rematch of their bout at WrestleMania 21. Michaels won the match by pinfall after executing Sweet Chin Music.

Many of the existing feuds were settled following the event. Notably, Batista was drafted to the SmackDown! brand, thus ending his feud with Triple H. The feud between Kane and Edge also concluded after the event, as Edge entered an

Event

Sunday Night Heat matches

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Rosey and The Hurricane (with Super Stacy) defeated The Heart Throbs (Antonio and Romeo) in a match taped for Sunday Night Heat.[24]

Preliminary matches

The first match that aired was between Carlito and Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship. After back and forth action, Carlito removed the padding from one of the turnbuckles. Benjamin then hit his head on the exposed metal while performing a Stinger splash. Carlito pinned Benjamin with a roll-up, allowing Carlito to retain the Intercontinental Championship.[20][25]

Next was a match between Victoria and Christy Hemme. The match saw Victoria lift Hemme in the air and drop her down with force. Control of the match went back and forth, but the bout came to an end when Victoria countered Hemme's sunset flip. Victoria got the pinfall by using the ring ropes for leverage.[20][25]

The third match of the night saw Kane face Edge, during which both men took the upper hand. Snitsky interfered in the match, delivering a big boot to Kane. Moments later, Snitsky was quickly taken out by Edge after he accidentally hit him with his Money in the Bank briefcase. Kane performed a chokeslam and pinned Edge for the win.[20][25]

Main event matches

This bout was followed by a WrestleMania 21 rematch that involved Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. In a brawling match, Angle had an Ankle Lock applied on Michaels. Moments later, however, Michaels recuperated and performed Sweet Chin Music on Angle before pinning Angle for the win. After the match, both men were given a standing ovation.[20][25] An in-ring segment took place next between Raw's ring announcer, Lilian Garcia and Viscera. During the segment, Garcia proposed to Viscera. Before Viscera could have given an answer, he was interrupted by The Godfather. The Godfather gave Viscera advice about the life he would miss out on if he got married. This led to Viscera rejecting Garcia's marriage proposal and leaving the ring with the Godfather's hos and abandoning a crying Garcia in the ring.[20][25][26]

Aftermath

Immediately after their Hell in a Cell match as an exclusive to WWE Home Video, Triple H (with Ric Flair) and Batista encountered backstage to put their differences aside and embraced with Triple H quipping "This is Evolution, baby", referring to their past as a stable, which had disbanded until 2014.

In June 2005, the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery took place, in which wrestlers were drafted and traded between the Raw and SmackDown! brands. On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, Batista's tenure on the Raw brand ended, when he was SmackDown!'s final pick in the draft lottery.[28][29] SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long scheduled a six-man elimination match between John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), The Undertaker, Muhammad Hassan, Chris Benoit, Booker T and Christian, in which the winner would receive the SmackDown! Championship, as the WWE Championship had been moved to the Raw brand. JBL won the match, but Teddy Long informed JBL that he did not win the SmackDown! championship. As the winner of the match, however, he would face Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship.[28][29] On the July 7 episode of SmackDown!, it was revealed that the match between JBL and Batista would take place at The Great American Bash.[30][31] At The Great American Bash, Batista was disqualified for attacking JBL with a chair. JBL won the match, but did not win the title because titles cannot change hands by countout or disqualification unless otherwise stipulated.[32]

Following Vengeance, Eric Bischoff vowed to make John Cena's stint on Raw difficult. He "hand-picked" Chris Jericho to take the WWE title off Cena by booking a match between Cena and Jericho at SummerSlam.[33][34] During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the face and Jericho as the heel, a vocal section of live crowds nonetheless chose to boo Cena during their matches, including at SummerSlam where Cena retained the title after executing an FU.[35][36]

After a successful tag team win at Backlash, in which Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan defeated Muhammad Hassan and Daivari.[8] Michaels and Hogan were placed in tag team match against Kurt Angle and Carlito on the July 4 episode of Raw. The match saw Hogan and Michaels get the victory.[37] During the post-match pose, Michaels superkicked Hogan, which knocked Hogan to the ground and turning Michaels heel for the first time since returning to the company in 2002.[37] The following week, Michaels challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam,[33][38] which Hogan accepted.[39] In this match, Hogan maintained his perfect record at SummerSlam by defeating Michaels.[40]

The feud between Edge and Kane came to an end when Edge was put in an angle with Matt Hardy. On the July 11 episode of Raw, Hardy, who at the time was unemployed by WWE,[41] made a surprise appearance, interfering in a match between Edge and Kane.[34][42] The following week, as both Edge and Lita were walking towards the ring before a scheduled Steel cage match against Kane, Hardy attacked Edge from behind.[43][44] On the August 1 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon officially announced Hardy's return to WWE, adding that Hardy would face Edge at SummerSlam.[45][46]

After a three-month hiatus,[50] Triple H returned on the WWE Homecoming episode of Raw on October 3.[51] He took part in a match, teaming up with Ric Flair, who was wrestling as a face, to take on Chris Masters and Carlito. The duo defeated Masters and Carlito; after the match, Triple H turned on Flair and hit him with a sledgehammer marked the end of Evolution after more than two years since 2003.[51] This led to an angle between Triple H and Flair. At Taboo Tuesday, Triple H and Flair met in a Steel Cage match, a stipulation chosen by the fans, for the Intercontinental Championship. The match saw Flair retain the Intercontinental Championship, after escaping through the cage door.[52]