ziggler then entered an on-screen relationship with wwe diva maria and she became his valet. he simultaneously started a scripted rivalry with intercontinental champion rey mysterio, who defeated ziggler at the night of champions and summerslam pay-per-views to retain the championship. in september, mysterio lost the intercontinental championship to john morrison, and ziggler entered a feud with morrison after defeating him by countout in a non-title match, but lost to him at the hell in a cell pay-per-view. on the episode of "smackdown" following hell in a cell, ziggler ended his on-screen relationship with maria after she accidentally cost him a match against morrison for the intercontinental championship. he again failed to win the intercontinental title from morrison twice, wrestling him to a double countout on the november 13 episode of "smackdown" and losing a two-out-of-three falls match the following week to end the feud. on the february 26, 2010, episode of "smackdown", ziggler defeated john morrison and r-truth in a triple threat qualifying match to compete in the money in the bank ladder match at wrestlemania xxvi, but was ultimately unsuccessful.