On the September 21 SmackDown, Sandow aligned himself with Cody Rhodes, and they started a feud with WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). The duo, which adopted the team name of Team Rhodes Scholars (a play on the Rhodes Scholarship), entered a tournament a week later on SmackDown, and defeated the Usos to advance. Team Rhodes Scholars defeated Santino Marella and Zack Ryder in the semi-finals, and then Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara in the finals to earn a shot at the tag titles. Team Rhodes Scholars got their title opportunity against Team Hell No on October 28 at Hell in a Cell, where they won by disqualification, thus Team Hell No retained the titles. This led to a title rematch on the November 14 episode of Main Event, which Team Hell No won. During the match, Rhodes suffered several legitimate injuries, placing their partnership on hold. On the November 23 episode of SmackDown, Sandow unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship, his first singles title opportunity in WWE. From December 2012, Sandow began a regular segment in which he unsuccessfully searched for an 'apprentice' by quizzing members of the audience. Sandow and Rhodes reunited on the December 10 episode of Raw and won a fatal four-way tag team elimination match, earning them the right to face Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara in a number one contender Tables match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs six days later, which Team Rhodes Scholars won. Team Rhodes Scholars received their title shot on the following episode of Main Event, but were again defeated by Team Hell No. On the January 7, 2013, episode of Raw, Team Rhodes Scholars defeated Team Hell No in a non-title match to earn another shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship. The title rematch took place on January 27 at the Royal Rumble, where Team Rhodes Scholars once again failed to capture the tag team titles. On the February 1 episode of SmackDown, Sandow and Rhodes briefly dissolved Team Rhodes Scholars while remaining "best friends", only to reunite on February 17 at the pre-show of Elimination Chamber in a loss to the team of Brodus Clay and Tensai. Sandow and Rhodes then aligned themselves with The Bella Twins in a feud against Tons of Funk (Clay and Tensai) and the Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi). The two teams were originally booked to