10 Best Split-Brand Pay-Per-Views In WWE History

2. Vengeance 2005 (Raw)

Trish Stratus Chris Jericho Backlash 2004
WWE.com

Batista defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 21, but the match was a bust. Plus, one little loss wouldn't keep HHH out of the title picture. They had a rematch at Backlash, which Batista won, but it still wasn't over.

At Vengeance, Batista and HHH had their blowoff match - a Hell in a Cell bout. This one was the winner, as the two men finally put on a classic that would have been a great WrestleMania main event. A sledgehammer and a steel chair wrapped in barbed wire came into play, but it was a spinebuster on the ring steps that sealed things for Batista. After that, he hit a Batista Bomb to put "The Game" away.

Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle had a rematch of their WrestleMania classic, with HBK picking up the win. Though the bout wasn't as good as their first clash (what is?), that match - plus a John Cena-Chris Jericho-Christian triple threat match - made for an amazing show.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013