ziggler then began feuding with john cena after he sided with vickie guerrero to help defame cena and aj lee by alleging they had a romantic relationship. on december 16 at , ziggler retained his money in the bank briefcase in a ladder match after aj interfered and turned on cena. the following night on "raw", while trying to diffuse an argument between vickie and aj, aj unexpectedly kissed ziggler, leaving him confused. ziggler then attempted to cash in his money in the bank briefcase on big show after show was assaulted by sheamus, but he was attacked by cena before the match could start. later, ziggler teamed with aj to face cena and vickie guerrero, however, the match ended in a disqualification after the debuting big e langston attacked cena, also starting an on-screen relationship between dolph and aj. ziggler ended 2012 having wrestled the second most tv/ppv matches that year with 90; however, he had the most tv/ppv losses with 57. ziggler ended his feud with cena after losing to him on the january 7, 2013, episode of "raw", in a singles match and in steel cage match the following week, despite outside interference from aj and langston in both matches. on the january 21 episode of "raw", ziggler won a beat the clock challenge to earn the right to choose what number he can enter in the royal rumble match, first or second. six days later at the royal rumble, ziggler entered at number one and lasted nearly fifty minutes before being eliminated by sheamus. during the match, ziggler resumed his feud with the returning chris jericho whom ziggler managed to eliminate. the following night on "raw", ziggler and jericho were placed in a "strange bedfellows" match against wwe tag team champions team hell no (daniel bryan and kane), but they lost when kane hit a chokeslam on ziggler and pinned him after jericho framed him for pushing kane. on the february 18 episode of "raw", ziggler was defeated by world heavyweight champion alberto del rio by submission in a non-title match, and afterwards langston attacked del rio and then ziggler made a failed attempt to cash in his money in the bank briefcase after del rio's ring announcer ricardo rodriguez ran off with it. after defeating wwe tag team champions daniel bryan and kane in singles matches due to interference from langston, ziggler and langston were given a shot at their titles. the title match took place on april 7 at wrestlemania 29, where ziggler and langston unsuccessfully challenged bryan and kane for the wwe tag team championship.