'' Vengeance '' was a pay-per-view event consisting of a main event and undercard that feature championship matches and other various matches . The first event was produced as a pay-per-view event for the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) , the former name of WWE . The inaugural event took place on December 9 , 2001 under the name Vengeance at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego , California and aired live on PPV . The event was a replacement for Armageddon as the name was considered potentially offensive to victims of the September 11 attacks . In 2002 , WWF was court ordered to change their name , which resulted in the promotion changing its name to WWE . Earlier in the year , WWF held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling , Raw and SmackDown , and the ECW brand was added in 2006 . Before the draft , matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations ; after the draft , matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands . The first Vengeance event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was Vengeance ( 2002 ) , which took place on July 21 , 2002 , taking the slot formerly taken by Fully Loaded and Invasion in previous years . The following year , WWE announced that PPV events , excluding WrestleMania , SummerSlam , Survivor Series , and the Royal Rumble , would be made exclusive to each brand ; Vengeance was made exclusive to the SmackDown ! brand in 2003 and in 2004 was made exclusive to the Raw brand . After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event , Vengeance ( 2006 ) was the final Vengeance event that was brand exclusive , as WWE announced that PPV events from April 2007 onwards would feature all three brands of WWE . Only one Vengeance show was held following the change , before it was replaced with Night of Champions the following year ( the 2007 event was considered a crossover event for both shows ) , although it returned for 2011 , now held in October slot replacing Bragging Rights
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
WWE Vengeance