Background
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 had 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. [1] On February 17, 2026, however, NXT's sixth annual Vengeance Day event, and 14th Vengeance overall, was announced to be held on Saturday, March 7, 2026, [2] and later confirmed to be held at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, also making it the first Vengeance overall to be held in March. [3]
The event was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, the WWE Network in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Abema in Japan. [4] This was the final NXT event to stream on Peacock as WWE's contract for NXT's events on the service expires on March 15; NXT's new livestreaming platform for US subscribers has not been confirmed. [5] This was also notably the final event to stream on the WWE Network in any country as the service will permanently shut down on April 1 in the remaining four countries that are still on the platform, with these countries subsequently transitioning to Netflix. [6]
Storylines
The event included five matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television program, NXT. [7] [8]
On the February 3 episode of NXT, Joe Hendry won the vacant NXT Championship in a seven-man ladder match which also involved former champion Ricky Saints. [9] On the following episode, Saints attacked Hendry after the latter's successful title defense. [10] On the February 17 episode, Hendry attacked Saints in the parking lot, and after that, went to the ring and called out Saints, who then appeared. After some exchange of words, Saints challenged Hendry to put his title on the line against him at Vengeance Day, which Hendry accepted. [11]
Entering 2025, Tatum Paxley formed an alliance with Gigi Dolin and Shotzi. At the end of May, Dolin and Shotzi were released by WWE, effectively disbanding the team. [12] Izzi Dame then successfully recruited Paxley into The Culling (Dame, Niko Vance, and Shawn Spears) by preying on Paxley's emotional instability from losing her former teammates. On the October 14 episode of NXT, Paxley won a battle royal to become the #1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship after Dame eliminated Jordynne Grace which also took Dame out unintentionally, [13] and subsequently defeated Jacy Jayne to win the title at Halloween Havoc. [14] As champion, Paxley agreed to hand out title matches, much to the chagrin of The Culling. On Night 1 of NXT: Gold Rush, Paxley lost the title back to Jayne after The Culling turned on her. [15] Paxley then sought revenge against Dame, culminating in a match at NXT Deadline, which Dame won after a distraction from Spears. [16] Paxley continued to taunt The Culling, leading to a match against Dame at NXT: New Year's Evil in which Paxley was victorious. Later that night, NXT Women's North American Champion Thea Hail held an open challenge for the title, where she stated that whoever got to the ring first would get a title shot; however, when Paxley was close to the ring, Dame appeared and attacked Hail from behind, being the first to reach the ring. Dame subsequently defeated Hail for the title. [17] Their rivalry continued, and on the February 10 episode of NXT, Paxley said in a vignette that she had lost sight of who she was while in The Culling and that she had felt a sense of clarity after leaving the group. [10] After responding to the vignette the following week, Dame announced that she would face Paxley for the title at Vengeance Day. [11]
In October 2025, reigning TNA Knockouts World Champion Kelani Jordan agreed to represent Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) at NXT vs. TNA Showdown. [18] As a result, some NXT wrestlers considered Jordan as a traitor, kicking her out of NXT's locker room. This included Lola Vice, who was part of Team NXT. After losing the title, Jordan began to feud with Vice, which led to a match on the January 13, 2026, episode of NXT, which Vice won. [19] On the February 3 episode of NXT, Vice challenged for the NXT Women's North American Championship, but was attacked by Jordan, who injured Vice's hand; this subsequently cost Vice the match. [9] This led to a rematch between Vice and Jordan on the February 17 episode of NXT, which was won by Jordan via submission because of the injury. [11] On the next episode, Jordan bragged about becoming the first person to force Vice to submit. After this, Vice attacked Jordan, being separated by other wrestlers. Later that night, Vice demanded an NXT Underground match against Jordan at Vengeance Day, and Interim NXT General Manager Robert Stone subsequently made the match official. [20]
On the January 13 episode of NXT, Jaida Parker returned to NXT in her first televised appearance since October 2025. Parker interrupted Blake Monroe, who did not like it and tried to attack Parker, however, Parker got the upper hand. [19] After innumerous confrontations, Monroe attacked Parker in the parking lot before the February 3 episode of NXT. [9] They faced each other on the following episode, however, the match ended in a countout, but both women continued to fight after the match. [10] Two weeks later, Parker attacked Monroe during her Women's Speed Tournament match, which ultimately caused Monroe to lose. [20] On March 2, Interim NXT General Manager Robert Stone announced that Parker and Monroe would face each other at Vengeance Day. [21] A day later on NXT, after some exchange of words, another brawl occurred, with Parker getting the upper hand once again. Later that night, Monroe announced that she would face Parker in a Street Fight at Vengeance Day. [22]
After the formation of DarkState (Dion Lennox, Saquon Shugars, Cutler James, and Osiris Griffin) at the 2025 Vengeance Day, [23] they began feuding with The D'Angelo Family (Tony D'Angelo, Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo, Luca Crusifino, and Adriana Rizzo). At Stand and Deliver that year, Lennox, Shugars, and James defeated The D'Angelo Family in a six-man tag team match after Lorenzo turned on his team. [24] Over the next few months, dissension among The D'Angelo Family continued until its complete dissolution in July. After a five-month hiatus, D'Angelo made his return at Deadline in December and vowed to destroy DarkState. [16] D'Angelo then defeated James on the February 17, 2026, episode of NXT, [11] and on the following episode, D'Angelo attacked DarkState, costing Griffin and Shugars the NXT Tag Team Championship. [20] The following week, D'Angelo attacked Griffin with a crowbar, causing Lennox to call out D'Angelo, who challenged Lennox to a match at Vengeance Day. Lennox accepted, and it was subsequently made oficial. Lennox also stated that he would be waiting for D'Angelo in the parking lot. [22]
On the February 24 episode of NXT, Sol Ruca challenged Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women's Championship; however, after months of dissension between Ruca and her tag team partner Zaria, the latter turned on Ruca, with Jayne quickly defeating Ruca to retain the title. [20] Because of that, Zaria demanded a title match from Jayne for helping her retain, which was scheduled for the following episode. There, Ruca attacked both women, with the match ending in a no contest. Later that night, Interim NXT General Manager Robert Stone announced that he would announce the future of the NXT Women's Championship at Vengeance Day. [22]
