on the january 3, 2017, episode of "smackdown", after he lost to baron corbin, kalisto came to the save of ziggler during a post match assault by corbin, he superkicked kalisto, turning heel in the process for the first time since 2013. he would then assault apollo crews backstage after being questioned for his actions. on the january 17 episode of "smackdown", he was invited onto a special "king's court" segment with jerry lawler. he proudly took responsibility for the heart attack suffered by lawler in september 2012, he then superkicked lawler in the chest before leaving the ring, thus cementing his heel turn. on january 29, ziggler entered the royal rumble match at #24 but was eliminated by brock lesnar. on the following episode of "smackdown", ziggler defeated kalisto in a singles match. after the match, ziggler attempted to remove kalisto's mask, but was stopped by apollo crews. at elimination chamber, ziggler lost to apollo crews and kalisto in two-on-one handicap match. following the match, ziggler attacked the victors, stomping on crews' ankle after placing it in a chair. this led to a chairs match on the february 28 "smackdown", where ziggler was victorious. on april 2 on the wrestlemania 33 kickoff show, ziggler was part of the andré the giant memorial battle royal, managing to eliminate r-truth, rhyno and tian bing, from which he was eliminated by the eventual winner mojo rawley. on the april 18 episode of "smackdown", ziggler failed to become the #1 contender for the wwe championship after losing a six-pack challenge match. the next week on "smackdown live", he had a confrontation with shinsuke nakamura. ziggler and nakamura faced each other at backlash, where nakamura emerged victorious. on the may 23 episode of "smackdown live", it was announced ziggler would be a participant in the 2017 money in the bank ladder match for a wwe championship match contract. a week later, he defeated fellow participant aj styles via pinfall in the main event. ziggler would fail to win the money in the bank ladder match, which was instead won by baron corbin. on the july 4 episode of "smackdown live", ziggler participated in the independence day battle royal for the wwe united states championship in a losing effort, being the first to be eliminated.