Summer Slam (1998) - Aftermath

Aftermath

Austin and the Undertaker continued to feud following SummerSlam, and eventually it was revealed that both Undertaker and Kane were in cahoots with Vince McMahon to try to rid Austin of the title. This led to a match at Breakdown in September between Austin and the brothers, where Undertaker and Kane were not allowed to pin each other. The match ended with both Undertaker and Kane pinning Austin simultaneously, which cost Austin the WWF Championship but left the title vacant. Austin was then forced to be the special guest referee for a match between Undertaker and Kane for the vacant title at Judgment Day in October, where he was threatened with being fired if he did not count the fall. Late in the match, after Undertaker hit Kane with a chair handed to him by his brother's manager Paul Bearer, Austin attacked Undertaker and counted both men pinned, declaring himself the champion. McMahon made good on his threat to fire Austin immediately thereafter, and the title remained vacant until Survivor Series. The night after Judgment Day Undertaker reunited with Paul Bearer and began recruiting for his Ministry of Darkness.

After defeating Owen Hart, Ken Shamrock's longstanding feud that dated back to when Hart had joined the Nation of Domination came to an end. After briefly joining forces with The Rock and Mankind, Shamrock turned on Mankind and became a villain. The turn coincided with a legitimate injury suffered by Triple H, who was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship shortly after SummerSlam due to an injury. Shamrock won an eight-man tournament for the Intercontinental Championship in October and held it for the remainder of the year. Before the end of the year, Shamrock also joined The Corporation.

D-Generation X continued to feud with Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice for one additional pay-per-view, with the New Age Outlaws and X-Pac defeating Jarrett and his valets at Breakdown. X-Pac began feuding with D-Lo Brown after Breakdown and won the European Championship twice, while Road Dogg and Billy Gunn reigned as tag team champions until they were defeated by The Corporation's Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man in December 1998.

As for Jarrett and Hart, they eventually began teaming together following Summerslam. Although Hart largely began wrestling as "The Blue Blazer" shortly after the team was founded, the two enjoyed some success as a team and eventually became tag team champions in January 1999.

Although he was still considered to be a villain going into Summerslam, The Rock became a face shortly thereafter due to an increasingly positive crowd reaction. It was during this time that he began aggressively promoting himself as "The People's Champion", which eventually led him into a feud with McMahon entering Survivor Series and the two eventually becoming allies.

After over two years of portraying a tortured soul character, Mankind began a transition towards a more comedic character. After his brief feud with Shamrock, which included an Intercontinental Championship match at Judgment Day that Mankind lost, he began aligning himself with Vince McMahon in an attempt to become his friend. This led to Mankind becoming McMahon's protege, and led to Mankind apparently being given an easy road to win the vacant WWF title. The end of this angle coincided with the end of McMahon's feud with The Rock, and after Survivor Series Mankind and The Rock began a feud that led until the following February.

After helping Sable defeat Marc Mero and Jacqueline, Edge entered a feud with Gangrel that eventually included Christian Cage, who was introduced as his storyline brother. After feuding for several weeks Edge was eventually convinced to join with Gangrel and Christian and the three formed a stable known as The Brood. Sable and Jacqueline then began feuding over the reactivated WWF Women's Championship, which Jacqueline won in September and Sable defeated her for in November at Survivor Series. Marc Mero quietly disappeared from the WWF shortly after Summerslam.