Background in
Washington, D.C. Vengeance was originally established as a
professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV)
event for
WWE in 2001 and it was held annually until 2007, followed by a one-off event in 2011. Since its revival in 2021, it has been held annually in February for WWE's
developmental brand NXT under the title Vengeance Day, a reference to the event taking place on or around
Valentine's Day. On January 7, 2025, NXT's fifth annual Vengeance Day event, and 13th Vengeance overall, was announced to be held on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the
CareFirst Arena in
Washington, D.C.; the arena was formerly the Entertainment and Sports Arena until February 6, 2025. In addition to
Peacock in the United States, the event was also available to
livestream on
Netflix in most international markets and the
WWE Network in a select few countries that had not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Vengeance, as well as the first NXT event, to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January 2025 in those areas. Beginning with
Halloween Havoc in 2024, all major NXT events are branded solely with the WWE logo instead of the NXT logo, marking the first Vengeance Day event to just use the promotion's logo, as well as the first event in the Vengeance chronology to do so since the 2011 event. On the January 28 episode of
NXT,
Raw's
A-Town Down Under (
Austin Theory and
Grayson Waller) hosted a special edition of
The Grayson Waller Effect with the new
NXT Champion Oba Femi as guest. Theory and Waller said they appeared to see if Femi was "worth the hype." Femi retaliated and said he has accomplished more in a shorter amount of time than both Theory and Waller combined. Afterwards, Femi declared that he would defend the title against either of the two at Vengeance Day. NXT General Manager Ava took issue with Femi declaring his opponents, but announced a triple threat match against both Theory and Waller for Vengeance Day. At
New Year's Evil,
Giulia defeated
Roxanne Perez to win the
NXT Women's Championship. One week later, Perez addressed the fans, seemingly to announce her departure from NXT before being interrupted by
SmackDown's
Bayley, who tried giving Perez advice to no avail. A brawl ensued between the two women as the show went off the air. During this time, Bayley had been transferred to the Raw brand as part of WWE's
transfer window. Bayley appeared on
NXT the following week to show gratitude to the fans before being interrupted by Giulia, who showed her respect to Bayley. Perez and her ally,
Cora Jade, interrupted and insulted them as a brawl ensued between the two teams. One week later, the two teams faced each other in a
tag team match, which Giulia and Bayley won after the latter pinned Jade. Later that night, when NXT General Manager
Ava was about to announce Giulia's Vengeance Day opponent, she was cut off by Perez and Jade, with Perez saying Bayley doesn't deserve a title shot since she didn’t get her title rematch yet, and stating that it was Jade's fault they lost the match earlier in the show. After that, Ava announced that Giulia would defend the title against both Bayley and Perez in a
triple threat match at Vengeance Day, much to Jade's dismay. At New Year's Evil,
Stephanie Vaquer won a fatal four-way match to become the #1 contender for the
NXT Women's North American Championship, held by
Fallon Henley. Later that night, however,
Shotzi pinned Henley in a
six-woman tag team match. Two weeks later, Page defeated Evans' tag team partner
Cedric Alexander and crushed Alexander's hand with a toolbox. On the January 14 episode, Page defeated
Dante Chen and crushed Chen's leg with the steel steps. Evans returned to attack Page but was knocked down by Page punching his injured jaw. On the next episode, Evans was cleared to compete, but Ava made him sign a waiver that WWE wouldn't be responsible for any damage to Evans. After signing the term, Ava reluctantly made the match official. After his excursion to Noah, Briggs formed a tag team with Noah's
Yoshiki Inamura, who Briggs defeated during his time at Noah, and they set their sights on
Axiom and
Nathan Frazer's
NXT Tag Team Championship. On the February 4 episode of
NXT, Frazer told Briggs and Inamura to find someone to beat to prove they deserve a title shot. Briggs challenged Hank Waller and Tank Ledger while Inamura challenged No Quarter Catch Crew (Heights and
Myles Borne), which prompted NXT General Manager Ava to schedule a
triple threat tag team match for the next episode. and was ruled out for Deadline. Two days after Deadline on the December 10 episode of
NXT, Thorpe confronted NXT Champion
Trick Williams and demanded a title shot, which Williams agreed. Upon signing the title match contract, Thorpe revealed to NXT General Manager Ava that he staged his own attack to ease his way into an NXT Championship match, turning
heel in the process. The title match on the following week ended in a double pinfall and Williams retained his title. At New Year's Evil on January 7, Williams defended his NXT Championship in a triple threat match against Thorpe and the Iron Survivor Challenge winner Oba Femi, where Femi won to become the new NXT Champion. On the February 4 episode of
NXT, Femi and Williams lost to Raw's A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) in a tag team match after Thorpe whipped Williams with a leather strap behind the referee's back. After the match, Thorpe continued to brutally whip Williams. On the following week, Thorpe challenged Williams to a
strap match at Vengeance Day, which was accepted by Williams. ==Event==