Vengeance (2005)

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 angle with Matt Hardy. The feud between Cena and Jericho, however, continued and led to a match at SummerSlam, which Cena won.

Vengeance was an annual pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 2001. Like the 2004 event, the 2005 event was a Raw-exclusive PPV, only featuring wrestlers from that brand. The 2005 event was the fifth event in the Vengeance chronology and was held on June 26 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The event featured six professional wrestling matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, Monday Night Raw.

The main feud heading into Vengeance was between Batista and Triple H, with the two battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. After Batista defeated Triple H at WrestleMania 21, they continued to fight over the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash, which saw Batista retain the title. Following Backlash, a series of Gold Rush Tournament matches to determine a number one contender to face Batista for the World title took place with Kane, Shawn Michaels, Edge, and Chris Benoit winning in the first round of the tournament. In this round, Benoit forced Triple H to submit to the Sharpshooter, Benoit's submission finisher. On the May 23 episode of Raw, Batista faced Edge, who had won the tournament to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Batista retained the title after he pinned Edge following a Batista Bomb. Following the match, Triple H attacked Batista with a sledgehammer and challenged him to a Hell in a Cell match. After making the challenge, Triple H performed a Pedigree to Batista on the World title. Batista accepted Triple H's challenge, which led to a contract signing for their scheduled match at Vengeance, which would be for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Hell in a Cell match.

The other main feud heading into the event was between John Cena, Chris Jericho, and Christian, with the three battling over the WWE Championship. On the June 6 episode of Raw, John Cena's SmackDown! tenure came to an end when he became the first wrestler selected by the Raw brand General Manager, Eric Bischoff, in the draft lottery. Cena was introduced as Raw's newest member in Chris Jericho's segment, the Highlight Reel, but Christian interrupted and called Cena a poser. This built on their existing rivalry, as Cena and Christian had an encounter at the Royal Rumble, in which Christian claimed that he was a better rapper than Cena. At the time, Cena was a member of the SmackDown! brand and Christian was part of the Raw brand. Over the next months, Christian began cutting promos denouncing Cena as a 'poser'. Cena rebutted Christian's comments by performing a freestyle rap about Christian, which quickly led to the two brawling in the ring. The same evening, Cena entered a feud with Bischoff by refusing to participate in Bischoff's "war" against the upcoming Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) reunion show. On the June 13 episode of Raw, Bischoff booked a WWE Championship match between Christian and Cena at Vengeance, although Jericho protested the idea of Christian being the contender to face Cena for the title. Later that night, Cena and Jericho were placed in a tag team match and faced off against Christian and Tyson Tomko. Cena and Jericho won the match after Cena got the pinfall. After the match, Jericho turned on Cena and attacked him. Bischoff then changed the original match between Cena and Christian to a triple threat match at Vengeance that also included Jericho.

One of the main matches on the undercard was between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels. At the start of the year, Angle and Michaels both participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2005 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. During the match, Michaels eliminated Angle. In retaliation, Angle returned to the match and eliminated Michaels and then attacked him outside the ring. The two engaged in a feud, which led to an Interpromotional match at WrestleMania 21, as Angle was part of the SmackDown! roster and Michaels belonged to the Raw roster. At WrestleMania 21, Angle got the win over Michaels by forcing him to submit to the Ankle Lock. On the June 13 episode of Raw, Angle was revealed to be the second draft pick for the Raw brand. That same evening, Michaels challenged Angle to a rematch at Vengeance, which Angle accepted.