a week later, ziggler and mcintyre lost the raw tag team championship to rollins and ambrose on the october 22 episode of "raw". on the december 3 episode of "raw", the alliance between ziggler and mcintyre ended when mcintyre claimed that ziggler was "a means to an end to get him into a prominent position" and ended their association. the two later faced each other in a match, which ziggler won after interference from finn bálor. after the three men had traded wins among each other and interfered in each others matches over the next few weeks, mcintyre defeated ziggler in a cage match on the december 31 episode of "raw".