Raw Deal - Raw recap for June 30, 1997

"The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock beats Hunter Hearst Helmsley when Mankind shows up and distracts Helmsley. After the match, Mankind goes after Helmsley, who runs out of the ring.

It is announced that Ahmed Johnson tore ligaments in his right knee during the brawl between The Nation of Domination and The Disciples of Apocalpyse, and was operated on at the Texas Orthopedic Hospital in Houston, Texas last Friday. Ahmed tells The Undertaker that when he returns to the WWF, he will tear through The Undertaker and D.O.A.

New WWF correspondent Michael Cole interviews The Legion of Doom (Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Hawk) backstage. Animal says there is not a single team in the WWF that has come close to beating them legally, and they will go through The Nation of Domination to take the tag titles. Hawk tells the Nation to get ready to enter Road Warrior World, and when they get done with them, they will be the equivalent of a steaming pile of bat guano and other small animal excrements.

We see Sunny with a couple of one-dollar bills in her tanktop to advertise Your SummerSlam Million Dollar Chance with a casket full of money. Watch later tonight to get your very first clue on how to get a million dollars!

The Nation of Domination (Faarooq and D'Lo Brown) beat The Legion of Doom (Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Hawk) to continue to the next round of the tag team tournament despite Faarooq not being the legal man when he makes the pinfall when The Godwinns (Henry O. and Phineas I. Godwinn) - who are watching from the top of the entrance ramp during the match - rush in so Henry can hit Hawk in the back with his slop bucket. Animal and Hawk chase The Godwinns to the back. After the match, Faarooq says a member of the Nation should be next in line for the WWF Championship, and says Vader was chosen because he is White and they are Black. D'Lo brown echoes Faarooq's sentiments, then Faarooq says Crush and Savio Vega could not get the job done, and calls The Disciples of Apocalypse "disciples of The Undertaker" as they knew the Nation would kick his butt. As he talks about whipping Savio Vega like a dog last week, Vega shows up and tells Faarooq that he quits and is going to get revenge. Faarooq tells him that if he wants revenge, he'll get in the ring. Savio Vega then calls some friends who are all dressed in white like he is, and they all go after The Nation. Referees and officials have to stop the brawl, then Crush shows up with The Disciples of Apocalypse, all on motorcycles once again. All three gangs fight each other, and this time uniformed security has to step in to stop the carnage.

Michael Cole interviews Savio Vega, who says that he knows gangs better than Faarooq. He calls his gang Los Boricuas, and they are here to kick some ass.

We see some footage from Sunny's photo shoot for Raw Magazine, and we see some photos of Sunny with her "secret liaison" Brian Pillman.

Brian Christopher beats Scott Putski in a Light Heavyweight Division match after interference from Jerry "The King" Lawler. Putski goes after Christopher after the match, but Lawler and Christopher double-team Putski and put him out with a spike piledriver. Lawler takes the microphone, and mocks Putski by sending a message to his Hall of Famer father Ivan Putski that the only good thing to come from Poland was an empty boat. Brian Christopher says that Scott Putski was foolish to think he could beat "the greatest light heavyweight in the history of the WWF" before he and Lawler tell Putski to go home.

We see footage of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin making fun of World Championship Wrestling in Extreme Championship Wrestling while imitating Hulk Hogan in a preview of the new WWF VHS release 'Cause Stone Cold Said So.

The Undertaker tells his fans and those of the WWF that tonight, they will hear a slanted version of the worst night of his life, a night which changed him forever. He says Paul Bearer will try to poison their minds with events of that night, which are burned in his mind along with the results which he has carried for over 20 years. He asks that the fans give him the opportunity to tell his side of the story.

The Great Sasuke will face Taka Michinoku in a Light Heavyweight Division match this Sunday at In Your House: Canadian Stampede.

It is announced that Brian Pillman has been fired as commentator on Shotgun Saturday Night after beating up a fan who had heckled him all night, and that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon has forced him to issue a public apology. We hear that apology, where Pillman says he deeply regrets his actions...and for being the only athlete in the WWF with any guts and being the voice of reason who has what it takes to tell it like it is. He refuses to apologize for taking his teeth to Mankind's good ear while showing Merv Albert and Mike Tyson what it's like to take a bite out of the human anatomy.

Mankind shows up with another "Pick Me Steve" sign around his neck before the next match, and hands a gift to Jim Ross in a gesture of apology for what he did to him in recent weeks. Inside is a plastic hand in the Mandible Claw position. Pillman takes the hand away from Ross, uses it as a weapon, then rips the "Pick Me Steve" sign in half before tossing Mankind into the ring. Also, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is in the building, and he says that Mankind is smart for picking the best talent in wrestling to team with. He also says Mankind sucks as you never know who exactly you're going into the ring with, and that he doesn't exactly care much for anyone else in the company as he says he will defend the tag team titles himself.

Brian Pillman beats Mankind by count-out. During the match, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Chyna are seen watching from the top of the entrance ramp, and at one point Pillman tries to stab Mankind with a pencil much like he did to the fan on Shotgun Saturday Night. Hunter Hearst Helmsley tries to get in the ring, and Pillman uses one of his boots as a weapon after Mankind puts Helmsley in the Mandible Claw. Pillman goes after Manind, but he accidentally gets hit in the head with a steel chair by Helmsley. Mankind gets the chair and chases Helmsley to the back with it, but he fails to get back in the ring in time. Mankind calls out for Helmsley afterwards.

Paul Bearer says the moment The Undertaker has been dreading is at hand, and that it is the beginning of The Undertaker's end.

The intro to the show replays to signal the start of War Zone.

Paul Bearer starts the second hour, and he is suddenly grabbed by the leg by a fan in black who is escorted out of the building immediately after tackling Bearer. Bearer makes it into the ring to reveal the secret. 20 years ago, at a small family-owned funeral home on the hill with oak trees all around. The family lived upstairs, with the father being the mortician and the mother being the secretary and receptionist. There were two kids, one of them "a red headed punk" and the other whose name was Kane. Paul Bearer was the apprentice at the funeral home and worked under "the red headed punk's father" with "the red headed punk" being The Undertaker. 'Taker's father was a mortician of excellence who taught him everything he knows from A to Z. While he was working there, he saw things that should not have happened. He thought there was something funny about The Undertaker, who he says had the look of a devil, calling him "a devil's seed." Kane followed The Undertaker everywhere he went, and viewed him like some sort of hero. Bearer spent two years as an apprentice while also going to school, and during that time, Kane and 'Taker would run around the funeral home like wildmen, taking chemicals out of the embalming room and smoking cigarettes behind the garage. He saw all this, but their parents did not. One time as he went to school, he saw Kane and 'Taker outside of the funeral home. He had a bad feeling about it, but went to school anyway. When he came back, the funeral home was in ashes, and he knew someone burned it down. He looked around and found 'Taker in the bushes. Bearer then reveals that 'Taker burned down the funeral home and killed his family, and calls him a murderer. Suddenly, the sound of thunder can be heard in the arena as the lights dim in and out.

Vader is backstage with Paul Bearer, and we see "Wildman" Marc Mero with Sable in front of the casket full of money for Your SummerSlam Million Dollar Chance. The first clue is "The Key."

Owen Hart and The British Bulldog beat The Headbangers (Thrasher and Mosh) to continue to the finals of the tag team tournament. During the match, Vince McMahon interviews Bret "The Hit Man" Hart via telephone, and says that he is waiting until Sunday night at home, saying he is not afraid of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, whom he calls "scum." He says that he is back and has the support that he needs, and that he will fight fire with fire in Calgary, where the Canadian fans will get what they want while implying that the American fans may not. After the match, Owen and Bulldog are suddenly congratulated by Jim Cornette, who tells them that he has a tag team right now who didn't make the tournament that he wants to show off. With a whistle, he calls out two heavy-set men with pointed toe boots who rush to the ring. Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and The Headbangers brawl with them, and when The Headbangers knock them down temporarily and focus their energies on Jim Cornette, these two unknown men go back on the attack, and one of them hits a top rope moonsault on Thrasher. Referees have to stop them from doing any more damage. (This is the one appearance of these two men, who would have gone by the name of The Arabian Butchers, and they are never seen in the WWF again.)

The Undertaker says that what Paul Bearer revealed is true, saying that his mother, father and little brother Kane burnt to death in the family funeral home. He says that he and Kane were playing with matches that day, and were punished when their father caught them. He was punished more than Kane as he was the older brother, and says he should have known better. His father explained to them what they were doing, and that those embalming liquids were flammable. He was then sent on his way to do his daily chores outside of the funeral home, and as he left, he saw Kane leave through one of the rear doors with one of the embalming liquids in his hands. It never occured to him what Kane would do, and thought nothing of it. Now he lives with that every day of his life, as he considered Kane his responsibility. When he came back home from doing the chores, he heard the sirens and see the smoke filling the sky. Without knowing, he knew what happened. He ran as fast as he could, and when he got to the funeral home, it was engulfed in flame. He ran right to the front door, but the firefighters would not let him go in. As he stood there, he watched the funeral home and saw his mother, his father and Kane inside as he watched the funeral home burn down to the ground. 'Taker says he was not at the funeral as Paul Bearer said, but says Bearer didn't explain to the fans why that was. Two nights before, in the middle of the night, he drug him to the neighboring funeral home so he could see his family. To this very day, the image of the burnt, charred body of his mother laying on a table with the sheet pulled back made him sick. 'Taker says this was the day that changed him forever. To be able to deal with the death of his family, he had to look at death and understand that without death, there cannot be life. He has taken it upon himself to walk a path where no one else chooses to, and he draws strength from the spirit of the dead. He tells Paul Bearer that the spirit of his mother, father and his brother Kane will strike him down.

The Undertaker shows up shortly after Rockabilly vs. Vader begins and attacks Vader. Paul Bearer calls 'Taker a murderer, and 'Taker grabs Bearer by the throat and tries to get the truth out of him. Bearer tells 'Taker "Kane told me," but 'Taker doesn't believe him until Bearer tells him that his brother Kane is alive and breathing just like everyone in the arena. Vader attacks 'Taker from behind and helps Paul Bearer escape.

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin ends when Bret "The Hit Man" Hart attacks Stone Cold. "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock is seen watching the match from backstage, and is attacked by Bret "The Hit Man" Hart backstage during the break with a metal drum during the break, revealing that Bret is in the building and that he did not do tonight's phone interview from Calgary at all. Referees have to stop Bret from attacking Shamrock further. Bret stomps Austin a few times before putting in a Figure Four Leg Lock on the ring post while Neidhart presses his boot against Austin's face. Mankind shows up and puts Bret in the Mandible Claw, but Brian Pillman and Owen Hart show up and attack as the show ends.