The event initially replacedArmageddon for the promotion's December 2001 PPV due to sensitivity issues following theSeptember 11 attacks. However, Armageddon would return the following year, with Vengeance moving up to July as a replacement forFully Loaded. Following the promotion being renamed to WWE and the implementation of thebrand extension in early 2002, the event was made exclusive to theSmackDown brand in 2003, and thenRaw from 2004 to 2006 before WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs. This in turn allowed theECW brand to be involved in 2007, but that would be the only year to include ECW.
In 2007, Vengeance was held asVengeance: Night of Champions, with all of WWE's championships at the time being contested.Night of Champions would replace Vengeance as a standalone chronology the following year, but Vengeance made a one-off return in October 2011. In February 2021, WWE revived Vengeance for the NXT brand as aTakeOver event called Vengeance Day, which was the first Vengeance to air via livestreaming in addition to traditional PPV. The TakeOver series was discontinued that September, however, Vengeance continued on under the Vengeance Day name with the 2022 event being held as aspecial episode of theNXT program, thus establishing Vengeance Day as NXT's annual Valentine's event. The2023 event returned Vengeance to livestreaming, but not PPV, as beginning withStand & Deliver in April 2022, NXT's major events only air on WWE's livestreaming platforms.
The inauguralVengeance was held on December 9, 2001, replacingArmageddon as the then-World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Decemberpay-per-view (PPV);[1] WWF staff felt that the "Armageddon" title was too sensitive following theSeptember 11 attacks.[2] However, Armageddon would return the following year, with Vengeance moving up to July as a replacement forFully Loaded (which had been replaced in 2001 byInvasion, the first PPV to incorporatethe Invasion angle).[3] The2002 event was also the first Vengeance to be promoted under the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) name, after the WWF was renamed to WWE earlier that same year.[4]
Following thebrand extension in early 2002, where the promotion divided its roster into two separate brands where wrestlers exclusively performed on their respective weekly television programs,[5] Vengeance became exclusive toSmackDown! in 2003,[6] and thenRaw from 2004 through 2006.[7][8][9] WWE then discontinued brand-exclusive pay-per-views followingWrestleMania 23 in April 2007;[10] the 2007 edition was branded asVengeance: Night of Champions, with all nine of WWE's championships at the time being contested, which included theECW brand, which had been established the previous year.[11]Night of Champions would become its own chronology in 2008, replacing Vengeance in its July slot on WWE's PPV lineup.[12]
In April 2011, WWE ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming anorphaned initialism,[13] while that August, the brand extension ended. That October, Vengeance made a one-off return, replacingBragging Rights.[14] Vengeance was again discontinued after 2011. In January 2021, over four years after the brand split was reinstated, WWE'sNXT brand announced that it would revive Vengeance as anNXT TakeOver show on February 14 titledNXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day; its title also alluded to the event'sValentine's Day scheduling. This would also be the first Vengeance to air on WWE's online streaming service, theWWE Network (which launched in February 2014), in addition to traditional PPV. Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the event was held in abio-secure bubble called theCapitol Wrestling Center, hosted at theWWE Performance Center inOrlando, Florida.[15]
In September 2021, NXT was rebranded and reverted the brand to its original function as WWE'sdevelopmental territory.[16] The TakeOver series was also discontinued, but Vengeance Day continued on as its own event, with the2022 event scheduled for February 15, 2022. Unlike all previous Vengeance events, however, the 2022 event was held as atelevision special, airing as aspecial episode ofNXT. This in turn established Vengeance Day as NXT's annual Valentine's event.[17]
On December 8, 2022, WWE announced that the2023 Vengeance Day would be held on Saturday, February 4, 2023, at theSpectrum Center inCharlotte, North Carolina, marking the first major NXT event to be held in North Carolina and the second Vengeance event held at this venue after the2006 event (when the venue was still called the Charlotte Bobcats Arena). It was also announced that it would return to being alivestreaming event (but not PPV), airing onPeacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets, in turn marking the first Vengeance to air on Peacock due to the American WWE Network merging under Peacock in March 2021 (beginning with the 2022 calendar year, NXT's major events no longer air on PPV, just livestreaming). This also marked the first standalone NXT livestreaming event to be held outside of Florida sinceNXT TakeOver: Portland in February 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]
