After that failed experiment with Chavo Guerrero, Ziggler returned under a different gimmick altogether - when he arrived as part of The Spirit Squad. You remember the group - they were cocky, arrogant and all wore white vests in a bizarre example of similarity. The gimmick was that the stable were actually male cheerleaders, and their debut saw them cheering at ringside enough to distract Jerry Lawler, and cost him a victory against Jonathan Coachman. They won the tag titles on one occasion, beating Big Show and Kane - thanks to help from all five members of the group. Despite it being Kenny and Mikey who won the titles, the squad recognized all five members as champions, meaning they defended the belts in a number of combinations and matches. After around a year on the main roster, they were ultimately disbanded when they were defeated by DX and Ric Flair, but it was the start of something for Ziggler, who had clearly caught the eye enough to stick around on the WWE's books - and he returned under his Dolph Ziggler gimmick just over a year later.
