Vengeance (2005) - Background

Background

The event featured six professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. 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 name of a wrestler's character was not always the person's birth name, as wrestlers often use a stage name to portray their character. All wrestlers were from the Raw brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being SmackDown!.

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 title at the next Raw pay-per-view, 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 Crippler Crossface, Benoit's submission finisher. On the May 23, 2005 edition of Raw, Batista faced Edge, who had beat out Michaels and Kane for an opportunity at the World title. 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 and contract signing for their scheduled match at Vengeance, which would be for the World Heavyweight title in a Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance.

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 edition 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 reunion show. On the June 13, 2005 edition of Raw, Bischoff booked a WWE title 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 Christan 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 edition of Raw, Angle was revealed to be the second draft pick for the Raw brand. That same evening, Michaels challenged Angle to a rematch from their WrestleMania bout at Vengeance, which Angle accepted.