World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event
The 1998 SummerSlam (marketed as SummerSlam: Highway to Hell) was the 11th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on August 30, 1998, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Eleven matches were contested at the event, including three on the "Sunday Night Heat" pre-show.
The main event was a Singles match for the WWF Championship between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker. Austin won the match via pinfall after a Low Blow and Stunner to retain the WWF Championship. The main match on the undercard featured a ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship between Triple H and The Rock, which Triple H went on to win the Intercontinental Championship. This SummerSlam was the notable for the pay-per-view in-ring debut of Edge.
Production.
Background.
SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view (PPV) produced every August by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. It has since become considered WWF's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 1998 event was the 11th event in the SummerSlam chronology and was scheduled to be held on August 30, 1998, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Storylines.
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 6th episode of "Raw is War", Vince McMahon announced a SummerSlam #1 Contender's 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 bait 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 champion’s chances at SummerSlam.
The second storyline heading into the event involved The Rock defending the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Triple H in a Ladder Match. Last month at , Rock and Triple H fought for the Intercontinental Championship in a two out of three falls match which ended in a no contest. The two continued their rivalry while leading up their respective factions Nation of Domination and D-Generation X. On the August 17 episode of "Raw is War", DX and the Nation fought in a street fight which the Nation won when Rock rammed a ladder in Triple H's face causing him to bleed from the mouth. Backstage after the match, Triple H challenged Rock to a Ladder match for the Intercontinental title at SummerSlam. On the August 23 episode of "Sunday Night Heat", Rock accepted the challenge.
Event.
D'Lo Brown defended his European Championship against Val Venis, initially showing respect to him when the two slapped hands. However, Brown would soon use his chest protector to gain leverage over Venis when the latter made an early advantage. 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. The two then embarked on a number of Irish whip maneuvers with frequent reversals, Venis perhaps taking Brown down more often. Despite flooring Venis with an Irish whip to the turnbuckle, Brown lost any advantage by gesturing to the crowd, though Venis' comeback was short-lived. 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. Venis tried to capitalize on this with his finisher, the money shot, but as Brown began to stand up Venis opted for a dropkick instead, however he was met with the grip of Brown who turned it into a Sky High instead but still Venis would not be pinned, similarly even after a DDT. Brown tried a high flying move of his own but Venis caught him mid air for a scoop slam. Despite subduing Brown with a double-armed suplex and a slam, Brown managed to get his knees up and after this attempted a powerbomb. The first powerbomb was unsuccessful though, Brown unable to flip Venis onto his shoulders and subsequently dropping him onto his head; the second though was a successful running powerbomb but rather than pin him, Brown attempted, and missed, the Lo Down. Venis then pulled off Brown's chest protector, putting it on himself and causing the referee to try to pull it off him. As Venis climbed the turnbuckle the referee accidentally pulled the ropes, causing Venis to land on his crotch. He still managed a Manhattan drop on Brown though, trying to climb the turnbuckle again with the referee still pulling at the chest protector. This time Venis shoved the referee to the ground, causing him to lose the match via disqualification; after the match he slammed the referee and landed the Moneyshot.
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. After pouring water into Yamaguchi-San's shoe, the match began in earnest with Funaki being thrown around the ring by Kurrgan and despite the entire team illegally attacking Kurrgan, holding his arms, he still managed to kick away Funaki and toss the others restraining his hand. When Giant Silva was tagged in, all of Kaientai fled the ring, regrouping outside before Dick Togo was sent into the ring but similar to before the entire team soon ganged up on him but Silva piled all four of them into the turnbuckle, crushing them back into the padding before Irish whipping them into the opposite corner and then tossing Taka over the top rope, falling onto the other three members. Golga was the first Oddity brought to the floor, with a double slam by Funaki and Mens Teioh which was followed up by four big splashes by all members. Kai En Tai followed suite with four running elbow drops but a four-man Irish whip was met with a clothesline that took all of them out. With Kurrgan tagged in, the four tried to attack him but Kurrgan and Silva choked all four between the two of them. 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.
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. The match moved both in and out of the ring early on, with Jarrett rushing X-Pac's open legs onto the ring post, leaving him almost to be counted out. When he returned to the ring, Jarrett continued his dominance with basic punching and Irish whips to the turnbuckle. 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. Jarrett tried to lock the submission again but X-Pac kicked him from behind into the corner, catching him with a backdrop as Jarrett stumbled out. Despite a spinning heel kick and bronco buster, Jarrett was still able to land a diving crossbody, though X-Pac rolled it in his favor. 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. Southern Justice appeared from the back, but X-Pac ducked El Kabong from Dennis Knight, grabbing the guitar and hitting Jarrett with it while the referee pushed Southern Justice out of the ring. Once the pinfall was made, fellow Degenerates, New Age Outlaws rushed to ringside with chairs to chase away Southern Justice while The Headbangers and Darren Drozdov helped hold Jarrett in his chair while he had his hair removed, though he escaped the ring before he was completely shaved bald.
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. Marc Mero and Edge were the initial opponents though Mero soon tagged in Jacqueline, however she immediately tagged Mero back when confronted by Sable. 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. Sable instantly scooped Jacqueline and punched her before chasing her around the ring and back in. Inside the ring Mero tried to subdue Sable, but he was lowblowed and then he almost got a Sable Bomb, but Jacqueline saved Mero this allowed Jacqueline to take some advantage but Sable soon turned the tables back in her favor, landing a TKO on Jacqueline. Mero pulled Sable off the pin and while distracted, was double teamed by both opponents. Jacqueline accidentally hit her partner though, letting Sable tag in Edge who made a running suicide leap onto Mero, before whipping him into the steel steps and spanking Jacqueline on the walkway. A pinning attempt after a super neckbreaker was put on hold when Mero's partner put his feet on the bottom rope. Once again the two accidentally collided, when Edge ducked out of the way leaving Jacqueline on the outside of the ring. When Mero went to the top rope, Edge reversed leaving him sitting on the turnbuckle and then tagged in Sable who delivered a frankensteiner. Edge then went to pin Mero but leapt off him when he saw Jacqueline flying for a splash, leading the two to collide once again. Sable and Edge then whipped their respective opponents into