Vengeance 2005 Vengeance 2005 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , which took place on June 26 , 2005 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas , Nevada . It was the fifth annual Vengeance event . Professional wrestling is a type of sports entertainment in which theatrical events are combined with a competitive sport . The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before , during , and after the event were planned by WWE ' s script writers . The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand : storyline expansions of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner . 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 . 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 . The Divas feud heading into Vengeance was between Victoria and Christy Hemme . After Hemme won a swimsuit contest on " Raw " , Victoria turned into a villainess and attacked all of the participants , saving Hemme for last , and later expressed jealousy of Hemme in a backstage interview . It was announced on a later edition of " Raw " that Hemme and Victoria would face each other at Vengeance , and Hemme stated in a backstage interview that she couldn ' t wait to get her hands on Victoria . However , the evil Victoria interrupted the interview by smashing a glass jar on the back of Hemme ' s head . Event . 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 " . 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 . 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 . The third match of the night saw Kane in a match with Edge , during which both men took the upper hand . Snitsky interfered in the match , hitting Kane with a big boot . Moments later , Snitsky was quickly taken out by Edge after he hit him with his Money in the Bank briefcase . Following the events in the match , Kane performed a chokeslam and pinned Edge . 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 hold 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 . 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 . The fifth match was a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship between champion John Cena , Christian , and Chris Jericho . The match saw all three wrestlers take the advantage over one another . A spot in the match included Jericho applying the Walls of Jericho on Cena , but he released the move and performed a springboard dropkick on Christian , after Christian got up on the ring apron . Late in the match , Jericho reversed an Unprettier attempt by Christian by tossing Christian directly to Cena . Cena hoisted Christian onto his shoulders , performed an FU , and pinned Christian to retain the WWE title . The final match of the event was a Hell in a Cell bout between Batista and Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship . During the match , Triple H choked Batista with a chain and hit him in the back with a steel chair wrapped with barbed wire . Batista regained the momentum by grabbing Triple H ' s sledgehammer and hitting him in the mouth . Batista retained the World title after he performed a spinebuster on Triple H onto the steel steps , which was followed with a Batista Bomb and a cover for the win . After the Hell in a Cell match , Triple H stood to his feet and was given a standing ovation by the audience . Aftermath . 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 , 2005 edition of " SmackDown ! " , Batista ' s tenure on the Raw brand ended , when he was SmackDown ! ' s final pick in the draft lottery . 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 . On the July 7 edition of " SmackDown ! " , it was revealed that the match between JBL and Batista would take place at The Great American Bash . 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 a title never changes hands by countout or disqualification . 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 . 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 . After a successful tag team win at Backlash , in which Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan defeated Muhammad Hassan and Daivari . Michaels and Hogan were placed in tag team match against Kurt Angle and Carlito on an episode of " Raw " . The match saw Hogan and Michaels get the victory . During the post - match pose , Michaels superkick ed Hogan , which knocked Hogan to the ground and turning Michaels heel for the first time since returning to the company in 2002 . The following week , Michaels challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam , which Hogan accepted . In this match , Hogan maintained his perfect record at SummerSlam by defeating Michaels . The feud between Edge and Kane came to an end when Edge was put in an angle with Matt Hardy . On the July 11 , 2005 edition of " Raw " , Hardy , who at the time was unemployed by WWE , 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 . On the August 1 edition of " Raw " , Vince McMahon officially announced Hardy ' s return to WWE , adding that Hardy would face Edge at SummerSlam . The following week , Hardy made his in - ring return , defeating Snitsky . After the victory , Hardy was attacked by Edge , and was carried backstage . In retaliation , Hardy counterattacked Edge in the locker room . At SummerSlam , Edge was given the win in the match after Hardy hit the ring post and began to bleed profusely , which caused the referee to stop the match . After a four - month hiatus , Triple H returned on the " WWE Homecoming " edition of " Raw " on October 3 . 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 . 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 .