Unforgiven (2005)

The 2005 Unforgiven was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the eighth annual Unforgiven and took place on September 18, 2005, at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division.

The main event was a standard wrestling match, in which Kurt Angle defeated WWE Champion John Cena, after Cena used the Championship belt on Angle, leading to a disqualification, but since a championship cannot change hands via countout or disqualification, Cena retained the title. Two featured bouts on the undercard were an other standard match, in which Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Masters, and a Steel Cage match, where the ring is enclosed by a steel cage, in which Matt Hardy defeated Edge.

Unforgiven grossed over $485,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of approximately 8,000, and received about 243,000 pay-per-view buys. This amount was higher than the previous year's event. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of third on Billboard's DVD Sales Chart.

Unforgiven was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 21st in Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in April 1998. Following the discontinuation of the In Your House series in February 1999, Unforgiven branched off as its own PPV in September that year, becoming WWE's annual September PPV. The 2005 event was the eighth event in the Unforgiven chronology and took place on September 18 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Like the previous two years' events, it featured wrestlers exclusively from the Raw brand.

Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card beforehand, which were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's script writers. The buildup to these matches and scenarios that took place before, during and after the event were also planned by the script writers. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from Raw's brand – a storyline expansion in which WWE assigned its employees. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick, as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match.

The main rivalry written into Unforgiven was between John Cena and Kurt Angle, who were competing for Cena's WWE Championship. At SummerSlam, Cena defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Championship. A rematch was held on the August 22 episode of Raw, when Raw general manager Eric Bischoff announced a WWE Championship rematch between Cena and Jericho in a "You're Fired" match, in which the loser would be fired. The match saw Cena win, and Bischoff fired a pleading Jericho, who was carried out of the arena by security. This angle was written after WWE's official website confirmed that Jericho signed a short-term contract extension to stay with the company after his long-term contract expired, which presumably ended after his loss to Cena. After the match, Angle came down to the ring and attacked Cena with an Angle Slam. As Cena was down, Bischoff announced that Angle was the new contender for the WWE Championship, claiming that Jericho "couldn't get the job done". Angle continued his attacks on Cena before their scheduled match at Unforgiven. On the August 29 episode of Raw, Cena was scheduled in a handicap match. He faced Tyson Tomko and Angle. Cena won the match by pinning Tomko after an FU. Afterwards, Angle assaulted Cena, which led to Angle smashing Cena's ankle across the ring post, thus giving Angle the advantage heading into Unforgiven.

Another major rivalry heading into the event was between Shawn Michaels and Chris Masters. This feud began the night after SummerSlam, where Michaels lost a match to Hulk Hogan. Michaels admitted he fell victim to Hogan's leg drop. He concluded that Hogan was the better man and it was time to get "back to reality". Midway through Michaels' speech, Masters interrupted him and informed Michaels that individuals like Hogan and Michaels did not know how to pass the torch to new wrestlers. Michaels went along with Masters' comments and warned Masters to not group him with Hogan. Masters concluded by stating that he was not "trying" to steal the spotlight from Michaels, but that he was going to "take it". Michaels responded by saying that he knew where Masters was coming from, which led to Michaels slapping Masters. The two then brawled, thus turning Michaels into an on-screen hero, as he had been a villain in the rivalry with Hogan. On the September 5 episode of Raw, Michaels was involved in the Masterlock Challenge, a challenge where the wrestler must break free from Master's full Nelson submission hold, which he calls the Master Lock. Despite Michaels' best efforts, he could not break free. Upset at the vigorous resistance of Michaels, Masters released the hold and hit Michaels with a steel chair before re-applying the hold. The following week, Michaels issued a challenge to Masters at Unforgiven, in which he vowed to get revenge on Masters for his actions the previous week.

The other predominant rivalry heading into the event was between Matt Hardy and Edge, a real life issue transformed into a storyline. At SummerSlam, Edge defeated Hardy after dropping him onto the top of a ring post. This caused Hardy to bleed heavily, which forced the referee to end the match and declare Edge the winner because Hardy could not continue. The next night on Raw, Hardy had a match with Rob Conway, in which Conway pinned Hardy for the win. After the match, Edge attacked Hardy. On the August 29 episode of Raw, Edge and Hardy competed in a Street Fight. The match ended in a no-contest after Hardy and Edge brawled at the stage ramp. Hardy grabbed Edge by the side and threw both himself and Edge off the stage and into electrical equipment. Both Hardy and Edge laid motionless on the floor as sparks flew everywhere. Trainers and emergency medical technicians rushed to the scene and took both men away in ambulances for medical attention. The following week, Bischoff booked Hardy and Edge in a steel cage match at Unforgiven. Following the announcement, Bischoff scheduled a match between Hardy and Snitsky, which Hardy lost. After the match, Snitsky threatened to hit Hardy with a ring bell but The Big Show came down. He was unable to stop Snitsky, and as a result, Snitsky succeeded in hitting Hardy with the bell.