 At the SmackDown tapings on January 4 , Ziggler lost the Intercontinental Championship to Kingston after a five @-@ month reign at 160 days . That same night , Ziggler won a four @-@ way match against Cody Rhodes , Drew McIntyre , and The Big Show to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship . Ziggler received his match for the championship at the Royal Rumble pay @-@ per @-@ view against Edge , but was unsuccessful . On February 4 , Ziggler 's girlfriend Vickie Guerrero , who was the acting General Manager of SmackDown , announced that she had banned the spear – Edge 's finishing move – and if Edge used it during the rematch between the two , Ziggler would be automatically awarded the championship . In the interim , Ziggler 's second rookie , Byron Saxton , was also voted off of NXT . On the February 11 episode of SmackDown , Ziggler received a rematch for the championship , only to lose after being speared . On the February 14 episode of Raw , Guerrero announced that Edge had lost the championship due to using the spear and that Ziggler would be crowned the new champion . On SmackDown on February 18 , Guerrero fired Edge , claiming that he had attacked SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long several weeks prior , and awarded Ziggler the championship during a coronation ceremony later that night . Long returned during the ceremony however , and Guerrero revealed Ziggler as the attacker after being accused of orchestrating the attack by Long . Long rehired Edge and gave him his rematch , in which Edge regained the championship . Ziggler 's first World Championship reign lasted only 11 minutes and 23 seconds . After the match , Long fired Ziggler in storyline . 
