ziggler beat united states champion kofi kingston in a non-title match on the may 30 episode of "raw", leading to a championship match at capitol punishment which ziggler won to earn his first united states championship. the next night on "raw", kingston invoked his rematch clause in a two out of three falls match and won via disqualification, allowing ziggler to retain. after jack swagger suggested to guerrero that she should manage him in addition to ziggler, a jealous ziggler teased tension with swagger. this, coupled with ziggler's concurrent feud with alex riley, led ziggler to defend and retain his united states championship in a fatal four-way match against swagger, riley, and john morrison at night of champions. on the september 19 episode of "raw", ziggler lost a non-title match to zack ryder when guest star hugh jackman helped ryder by punching ziggler in the face. although ziggler later claimed to have a broken jaw due to jackman's punch, it was reported that the supposed injury was fake. later that night, guerrero officially began managing swagger, and swagger began interfering in ziggler's matches to help him win. ziggler and swagger unsuccessfully challenged air boom for the wwe tag team championship at hell in a cell and at vengeance, where ziggler also successfully defended the united states championship against ryder. he went on to successfully defend the championship against morrison at survivor series. at , ziggler lost the united states championship to ryder.