Tagline(s) Vengeance Is Mine Date 23 October 2011 | Vengeance (2011) Final Venue AT&T Center Attendance 8,000 | |
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Themesong(s) "Make Some Noise (Put 'Em Up)" by The Crystal Method ft. Yelawolf Location AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas, United States | ||
Vengeance 2011
Vengeance (2011) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE that took place on October 23, 2011 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is the twelfth event under the Vengeance/Night of Champions chronology and the first event under the Vengeance name since the 2007 edition. Eight matches took place at the event. The pay-per-view garnered 121,000 buys, down from 137,000 buys the previous year's event, Bragging Rights, received.
Contents
Background
At Hell in a Cell earlier in the month, John Cena lost the WWE Championship to Alberto Del Rio after John Cena was locked out of the steel cell while Alberto Del Rio pinned CM Punk. A week later, recently instated Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis booked John Cena's rematch against Alberto Del Rio for Vengeance. On the October 17 episode of Raw, John Cena and Jim Ross defeated Alberto Del Rio and Michael Cole in a tag team match and as per the pre-match stipulation, he chose the match at Vengeance to be a Last Man Standing Match.
At Night of Champions, during the main event between COO Triple H and CM Punk, The Miz and R-Truth interfered and attacked both competitors. The next night on Raw, Triple H fired Miz and Truth. At Hell in a Cell, Miz and Truth attacked John Cena, CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, the referee, and cameramen while the cell was still closed. The entire WWE roster came out to find a way into the cell. Eventually, they found pliers and got into the cell and Triple H attacked Miz and Truth. On the October 10th edition of Raw, Triple H was relieved from his duties of running Monday Night RAW (though still COO) and Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis was named Interim General Manager Of Raw and later that night made this match.
At Money in the Bank, Mark Henry injured The Big Show, crushing a steel chair on Big Show's fibula keeping him out of action for roughly four months. Afterwards, Henry defeated Randy Orton at Night of Champions to win his first World Heavyweight Championship, and retained it Orton against again at Hell in a Cell. The Smackdown after Hell in a Cell, Big Show returned and began to attack Mark Henry demanding a title match. As Big Show was about to crush Henry's leg with a steel chair, General Manager Theodore Long said that if Big Show didn't crush Henry's leg, he would get his title match. Big Show decided to give Henry a chair shot to the back, fearing that if he crushed Mark's leg, he wouldn't get his World Heavyweight Championship match.
A second rivalry from SmackDown involved Randy Orton and Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes. Earlier in the month at Hell in a Cell, Randy Orton lost his World Heavyweight Championship rematch in a Hell in a Cell match against Mark Henry, while Cody Rhodes brought back the classic Intercontinental Championship title belt and then successfully defended it in an impromptu match against John Morrison. Rhodes would cost Randy Orton another World Heavyweight Championship match on the October 7 edition of Smackdown. On the October 14 edition of Smackdown, Randy Orton would get vengeance against Rhodes when he picked up a pinfall victory over Rhodes. On the October 17 edition of Raw, Cody Rhodes picked up a pinfall victory over Orton after interference from Mark Henry. It was then announced that Randy Orton would face Rhodes at Vengeance in a non-title match.
The only rivalry on the Divas card was between Eve Torres and Beth Phoenix over the Divas Championship. On the October 17 edition of Raw, Torres was announced as the number one contender for the Divas Championship. The following edition of Smackdown! Torres interrupted Phoenix talking about the match, pushed her over and showed her 'ranty panties'. The same night of their match Kelly Kelly was being interviewed (because she is Eve's best friend) on a WWE.com exclusive but was attacked by Phoenix and Natalya but Torres saved her. Interim General Manager of Raw John Laurinaitis announced that Kelly and Natalya were banned from ringside.
Event
The first match saw Air Boom defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. Both teams went back and forth but, the match came to an end when Evan Bourne pinned Dolph Ziggler after an "Airbourne", thus successfully defending the titles.
Next, Dolph Ziggler defended the United States Championship against Zack Ryder. Air Boom were at ringside in the corner of Zack Ryder. Bourne and Kingston interfered by throwing Dolph Ziggler back in the ring when he went to the outside. Because of this, they were ejected from ringside. In the end, Ziggler pinned Ryder after a superkick.
After that, Eve challenged Beth Phoenix for the Divas championship. Phoenix tried a Glamslam but Eve countered it. Both Eve & Beth found themselves on the top rope. Phoenix then executed the Glamslam on Eve and then pinned her for the victory.
Next, Christian faced Sheamus. The match came to an end after Christian tried to executed a Spear on Sheamus but Sheamus countered it and executed a Brogue Kick on Christian to win the match.
In the fifth match, The Miz and R Truth faced Triple H and CM Punk. Triple H & Punk controlled the match until Kevin Nash attacked Triple H whilst the referee was distracted. Miz & Truth then executed a Shut Up/Skull Crushing Finale combination on Punk, with Miz pinning Punk to win the match.
In the sixth match, Randy Orton fought Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes. At the end of the match, Rhodes executed Cross Rhodes on Orton for a near-fall. Rhodes attempted to execute an RKO on Orton but Orton countered the attempt with a Dropkick on Rhodes. Orton executed an RKO on Rhodes, pinning Rhodes to win the match.
The next match pitted The Big Show against Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship. After Henry executed a superplex on Big Show, the ring collapsed, two rows of ropes fell, and one ring post jutted out. The referee ruled the match a No Contest. After the match, medical staff brought a stretcher out but neither Big Show nor Mark Henry could fit on it. Then, a flatbed truck was driven to the ring, and the medical staff put Big Show on it. They drove away, but not before general managers John Laurinaitis and Theodore Long appeared. Then Mark Henry was assisted out of the AT&T Center, at one point punching an EMT, and when he was gone, Laurinaitis said the main event would still be happening, despite the damaged ring.
The main event was a Last Man Standing match between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship, with the ring still in a collapsed state from the previous bout. John Cena debuted his new "Rise Above Hate" attire. Cena and Del Rio gained control over each other throughout the match. When Del Rio climbed the big V, Cena threw him through a table. The match went back and forth. When it looked like Cena was going to win, The Miz and R Truth attacked Cena. Despite Miz executing a Skull Crushing Finale on Cena and R-Truth executing a Shut Up, Cena still answered the ten count. When Cena stood, Del Rio hit Cena with the WWE championship belt. Cena couldn't answer the ten count, and Del Rio retained the WWE Championship.