Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer",[3] it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series,[4] and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring.

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 champion’s chances at SummerSlam.

Despite the protector, Venis still managed to retain some offensive momentum, legsweeping Brown out of the turnbuckle leading the champion to escape outside the ring.

Brown kept Venis mostly low, making many ground attacks from a standing position and the top ropes, often trying pins in between then switching tactics by applying a Texas cloverleaf.

Rather than keep the pressure though, Brown let go and missed a senton bomb from the second rope, allowing Venis to recover and fight back with knees to the chest and elbow attacks.

[13] The Oddities, welcomed to the ring by Insane Clown Posse singing their music, lived up to their title when Golga, having had his head smashed against the turnbuckle by Taka Michinoku, headbanged voluntarily.

Yamaguchi tried to attack Kurrgan from behind but Luna Vachon scoop slammed him and all four of Kai En Tai received a chokeslam in unison and Golga covered all four of them to pick up the pin count.

[13] The Hair match saw Jeff Jarrett's accomplices, Southern Justice, sent to the back by Commissioner Slaughter whilst Howard Finkel accompanied X-Pac to the ring, performing the signature crotch chops.

X-Pac returned with a desperate swinging DDT allowing him to take some time to recover, but his attacking maneuvers were met with a sleeper hold.

An attempt to put Jarrett in the sleeper hold saw him lifted from behind onto the turnbuckle but X-Pac used this to his advantage, spinning round into a crossbody which missed contact with his opponent.

With both men on the floor, Jarrett applied his figure four leg lock in the middle of the ring, which X-Pac struggled to counter by turning over, eventually making it to the rope after a minute or so.

Finkel climbed onto the apron to complain of a low blow attempt, when Jarrett turned back to the ring X-Pac landed an X Factor.

[13] Sable arrived to the ring and introduced her mystery tag team partner, with Edge coming through the crowd to make his pay-per-view debut.

On the outside Jacqueline pulled at Edge's feet while running, allowing Mero to take the advantage and, with the referee distracted, choked him on the bottom rope.

Mero attempted a TKO but Edge swung round to secure a DDT and with both men down they crawled to tag in their prospective female partners.

[13] The Lion's Den match, which took place in a separate theatre within Madison Square Garden in front of a special crowd, was contested in a pseudo-circular polygon cage, with steel wire and no ropes approximately ten feet high.

As the two returned to their feet it became an exchange of punches before Shamrock again used the cage to aid him into a flying shoulder barge, but the second time he did this Hart caught him and slammed him into the mat and used the advantage to lock in the Sharpshooter.

Shamrock slowly crawled to the cage and used his fingers to climb up, building pressure on his own legs but making it awkward for Hart to sustain the hold.

Billy Gunn ran into the ring and met with a baking tray to his head from Mankind before the two had a sword fight of sorts, with a steel chair.

The advantage did not remain though, as his own plans were used against him when Rock threw Triple H by his legs into the closed ladder, then falling face first onto the Spanish announce table.

Eventually Undertaker stood up and the two fought back and forth again, with Austin attempting a Lou Thesz press but being caught in a bear hug before having his neck thrown on the ropes.

After this he began to attack Austin's back, first in the turnbuckle and then trying to trap him on the apron, but Stone Cold soon caught his opponent's leg and bashed it into the ring post.

When the two made it up from that, though, Austin took a definite advantage, ramming his shoulder into Undertaker's chest before striking both a Lou Thesz press and an elbow drop.

When Undertaker tried an Old School again, it seemed successful until he jumped off the ropes and met with a low blow which caused him to stumble and fall into a Stone Cold Stunner, losing the match via pinfall.

[13][14] The event has received positive reviews from critics, as many consider it the show that permanently turned the tide of the Monday Night War with World Championship Wrestling in the WWF's favor.

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 Your House in October, where he was threatened with being fired if he did not count the fall.

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.

On October 9, Vince McMahon stripped Triple H of the championship and set up a tournament for the vacated title which saw Ken Shamrock defeat X-Pac in the finals to become the new champion.

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.

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.