after a four-month hiatus, ziggler returned on the may 21 episode of "smackdown live" and attacked wwe champion kofi kingston, failing to win the title at super showdown in a singles match and stomping grounds in a steel cage match. after being defeated by kevin owens at extreme rules in 17 seconds on the july 23 episode of "smackdown live", ziggler interrupted "miztv" featuring shawn michaels. after ziggler laid out the miz, he delivered a "superkick" to michaels. this led to a match at summerslam against goldberg, being defeated in a short match.