text: Championship pursuits (2008–2009) As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Kendrick was drafted back to the SmackDown brand while London stayed on Raw, thus ending the team. He made his return to the brand on the July 18, 2008, airing of SmackDown, as a heel, with new ring attire defeating Jimmy Wang Yang with the help of his bodyguard, Ezekiel, who was later given a surname and became Ezekiel Jackson. Kendrick was later given the name "The Brian Kendrick". On the edition of August 22 of SmackDown, Kendrick won a 10-man battle royal to qualify for the WWE Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven. Kendrick won the interim WWE Championship title at the event, though he did lose minutes after having the longest reign as "interim" champion. As Kendrick was not the final interim champion, he never officially held the title. He later teamed with Jackson on many occasions, becoming number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship held by Carlito and Primo, but they never managed to win the championship.
  On April 15, 2009, Kendrick was separated from Jackson as he was drafted back to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft while Jackson was drafted to the ECW brand. He wrestled his return match on Raw on the April 27 episode, against Kofi Kingston. He won a match on Raw after defeating Carlito on the May 11 episode before declaring his intention to win the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship; in the following weeks, Kendrick tried several unsuccessful pairings. In his final match, he was defeated by Kofi Kingston while cutting a promo on Jerry Lawler. The match ended with Kendrick turning around into Trouble In Paradise. On July 30, 2009, WWE announced that Kendrick was released from his contract.
  Return to the independent circuit (2009–2016)