Raw Deal - Raw recap for August 3, 1998

RAW

The Nation ("The Rock" Rocky Maivia, Owen Hart, D'Lo Brown, "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry) show up. The Rock says that the entire world is ready to see him and Owen Hart take on The Undertaker and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and asks them why they should wait when they can just have their match right now before calling them out. Instead of getting The Undertaker and Austin, he gets WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter instead, and The Rock tells him to get out and get their opponents. Austin shows up along with The Undertaker, but as Austin gets in the ring, The Undertaker is distracted by Kane and Paul Bearer, who follow close behind. The distraction leaves Austin on his own in the ring, and as The Undertaker heads back to the back to give chase, Mankind shows up and he and The Undertaker fight near the stage. Austin manages to hit a Stone Cold Stunner on Owen Hart, and eventually fights back before nearly hitting a Stunner on The Rock. Austin gets out of the ring, grabs a chair, and gets back in the ring with it as The Nation retreats.

Golga quickly beats "Marvelous" Marc Mero after Luna Vachon smashes flowers into Jacqueline's back. (This match is mysteriously missing from the episode as it appears on the WWE Network.)

"The Godfather" Kama Mustafa beats 2 Cold Scorpio to continue on to the semi-finals of the Brawl For All Tournament. Before the match, Dan "The Beast" Severn says he has nothing to prove in the tournament, and if he has a score to settle it, he will settle it when his hands are not bound. This allows The Godfather to come back into the tournament. The Godfather then gives 2 Cold Scorpio a choice: either go three rounds with him in which he'll beat his ass, or spend the night with three of his finest hos. Scorpio chooses to fight The Godfather.

Michael Cole interviews The New Age Outlaws ("Road Dog" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn). Road Dog says revenge is sweet, but not as sweet as wearing the tag team titles. They are more afraid of the lengths they'll go to to get the tag team titles back as they are of Kane and Mankind. Gunn says they'll keep sticking it in everyone's face as the "D" stands for determination and the "X" stands for excellence.

Kane and Mankind beat The New Age Outlaws ("Road Dog" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) despite Road Dog not being the legal man in the match when he is pinned.

Road Warrior Hawk addresses the fans, Titan Sports and even Road Warrior Animal as his real self - not as Hawk - and apologizes for his behavior last week. He hopes that everyone can find it in their hearts to forgive. He then says it's time to "do the Hawk thing."

In footage from earlier today, "Double J" Jeff Jarrett says that Road Warrior Hawk embarrassed everyone last week, and that it's time he scared him straight, Double J-style.

Road Warrior Hawk beats "Double J" Jeff Jarrett as Tennessee Lee tries to give Jarrett his belt to use as a weapon. As Road Warrior Animal shows up to congratulate Hawk, Southern Justice (Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight) attack Animal and Hawk, and Darren "Puke" Drozdov goes after Jarrett, who eventually retreats.

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WAR ZONE

WWF owner Vince McMahon arrives with Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, and WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter. McMahon says the highway to Hell ends at SummerSlam, and the way he sees it, both The Undertaker and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin are on two different highways that will eventually merge and that there might be a roadblock when The Undertaker and Austin lose the WWF Tag Team Championships. He says that new tag team champs who know about unity will be crowned in Owen Hart and "The Rock" Rocky Maivia. Vince then asks about what he considers a coincidence from last week's Raw, where "Stone Cold" Steve Austin threw a beer to The Undertaker, and says that when The Undertaker drank Austin's beer, he knew that Kane was about to obliterate Austin. Vince also brings up what happened earlier tonight with Austin and The Undertaker, then asks The Undertaker to come to the ring and try to disprove this "conspiracy theory" with a viable explanation. The Undertaker shows up, and when Vince tosses him a microphone and The Undertaker catches it, Vince says that he just proved his point. Austin shows up immediately after, and says he doesn't trust anybody and that Vince should know better than anyone else. As for the beer, The Undertaker looked thirsty, so he threw him a beer. It does not mean that they are friends, and the fact that he has both tag team belts doesn't mean anything to him as all he cares about is beating him at SummerSlam. He tells The Undertaker he can keep both tag belts, as he wants nothing to do with them and that the WWF Championship is the only title that matters to him. As Austin leaves, The Undertaker tells Austin to listen for a minute, as he is doing what Vince wants him to do and is trying to drive a wedge between them, as he does not want them to be champions. Just like he came to Austin like a man to ask for a shot at the WWF Championship, he asks him to come back to the ring and take what is his. Austin heads back to the ring, and takes one of the tag titles before leaving again, keeping his eyes on The Undertaker as he does. Vince is livid. The Undertaker then tells Austin one more thing: between now and SummerSlam, Austin is "the safest S.O.B. in the World Wrestling Federation," but at SummerSlam, he will take what is rightfully his: the WWF Championship.

Backstage, "The Rock" Rocky Maivia says he and Owen Hart could care less about who the tag team champs are and tells The Undertaker to rest in peace and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin that he will hit rock bottom. Owen Hart says that after they win the WWF Tag Team Championship, everyone will find out who the real "nugget" is.

"Triple H" Hunter Hearst Helmsley beats X-Pac after Chyna hits X-Pac in the face with a forearm to face "The Rock" Rocky Maivia for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam. X-Pac confronts Triple H after the match.

Before the next match, Val Venis tells the ladies that if they are fans of the San Diego Chargers, he's got the lightning bolt to charge for their goal.

Val Venis and Taka Michinoku vs. Kaientai (Dick Togo and Sho Funaki) comes to a bizarre end after Taka turns on Venis by hitting him with a drop kick before joining Kaientai, saying that Yamaguchi-san wife is his sister. Kaientai and Taka then drag Venis to the back.

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Kaientai (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Sho Funaki) Yamaguchi-san and Taka Michinoku are seen dragging Val Venis further backstage.

Before the next match, D'Lo Brown announces that he is being forced to defend the European Championship even though most of the people in San Diego are not even American citizens, and that he is wrestling in this match under protest.

D'Lo Brown retains the WWF European Championship against Dan "The Beast" Severn by disqualification. During the match, "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry shows up and watches the match from ringside, and "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman shows up to watch the match from ringside from another corner. It is announced during the match that D-Generation X's ("Triple H" Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Chyna, X-Pac, "Road Dog" Jesse James, "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) locker room is locked, and has asked not to be interviews. After this announcement, "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock shows up and gets in a fight with D'Lo Brown before throwing him and Mark Henry into the steel steps, ending the match. Severn is not happy, and Blackman attempts to calm Severn down. After D'Lo Brown makes it to the stage, he is suddenly attacked by Edge, who then makes his way back to the back. D'Lo Brown does not even know what happened.

Kaientai (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Sho Funaki), Yamaguchi-san and Taka Michinoku are seen attacking Val Venis backstage.

Tiger Ali Singh shows up. He says that American women have no class, morals or self-respect, and that tonight, another American woman will prove to the world that there is no limit to which an American woman will go for money. For every piece of garment they remove, he will give them $500. He commands his servant Babu to chose a woman, and he picks one out of the crowd. He picks a rather corpulent woman, who is commands to immediately strip, which she does. She takes off the shirt, followed by the skirt, then offers her $500 for every piece of clothing she puts back on. She puts the skirt and the shirt back on, and is immediately rewarded with $2,000.

We see footage from moments ago of Kaientai (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Sho Funaki), Yamaguchi-san and Taka Michinoku dragging Val Venis into a room, with Yamaguchi-san carrying a katana as the camera man is shooed out of the room.

Before the next match, it is announced that the woman who took off her clothes for Tiger Ali Singh for money will be on WWF Code Red on WWF.com after Raw, among others.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker retain the WWF Tag Team Championships against "The Rock" Rocky Maivia and Owen Hart. After the match, Kane and Mankind go after The Undertaker, but Kane seemingly accidentally hits Mankind with a steel chair. The Undertaker takes the chair from Kane and hits Mankind with it, then The New Age Outlaws ("Road Dog" Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn) get into the ring and fight off Kane and Mankind. Austin gets back into the ring and hits Road Dog with a Stone Cold Stunner.

Security manages to get into the locker room where Kaientai (Dick Togo, Men's Teioh, Sho Funaki), Yamaguchi-san and Taka Michinoku are located, and Yamaguchi-san is seen trying to cut Val Venis' privates off. The broadcast fades to black as the katana comes down.