on april 15, 2009, ziggler was drafted to the smackdown brand as part of the 2009 supplemental draft. he made his debut on the april 17 episode of "smackdown", defeating the united states champion, montel vontavious porter (mvp) in a non-title match, and, as a result, the following week he demanded a match for the championship. on the may 1 episode of "smackdown", however, he failed to win the championship, after he was pinned by mvp. ziggler then started a rivalry with the great khali, losing to him by disqualification after attacking khali with a steel chair. as a result, khali began coming out to the ring during and after ziggler's matches, in attempt to gain revenge and to stop ziggler from cheating. over the next few weeks, ziggler would defeat khali by countout and disqualification after making it look like khali had struck him with a steel chair. at the bash pay-per-view, ziggler defeated khali in a no disqualification match by pinfall, after kane interfered and attacked khali.