Background
The main storyline heading into the event revolved around WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker. At King of the Ring, Austin had lost his championship in the inaugural First Blood Match, however he won it back the next night on Raw is War. The pay-per-view match ended in controversy though; Kane's partner Mankind came to the ring, followed by Undertaker, whose attempted chair shot to Mankind was mistimed and instead met Austin, opening him up and costing him the match. Until this point, Undertaker had shown nothing but disdain for his younger brother since his debut the previous October but he explained on Raw that he would not sit idly by while his brother set himself on fire (the stipulation of the First Blood match should Kane lose.) On the July 6 Raw, Vince McMahon announced a SummerSlam #1 Contender match between Kane, Undertaker and Mankind; when Undertaker did not appear the match was started anyway with Kane savagely beating Mankind and winning much to the delight of McMahon, however mid celebration Kane ripped off his mask to reveal it was actually Undertaker in disguise. McMahon became obsessed with proving the brothers were conspiring against Austin and tried to prove this by putting champion and contender in a match for the WWF Tag Team Championship at Fully Loaded. McMahon could not bate Undertaker though as the team won the match but did not unify as a team for long, defending the titles until August 10, losing in a four corners tag match to Kane and Mankind. The next week, Austin arrived on Raw in a hearse and challenged Undertaker to a fight; at the end of the show Undertaker came to the ring and Austin followed, however when Undertaker fully faced Austin it became apparent it was actually Kane in his brother's attire, using his hair to hide his mask previously. Austin threw Kane in the back of the hearse but when he went to drive away, Undertaker appeared in the driver's seat and drove his brother away, thus revealing the alliance between the two, cemented by a beat down on Paul Bearer the following week, and greatly reducing the champions chances at SummerSlam.
Read more about this topic: Summer Slam (1998)
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