In the summer of 2008, Duggan started a short feud with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase after Rhodes and DiBiase tried to convince Duggan to retire and let the young talent run the show. Soon after, Duggan would come out and announce that he would take Rhodes and DiBiase's advice and retire, but Jerry Lawler stopped him by convincing Duggan to stay. Duggan and Lawler then wrestled Rhodes and DiBiase on the edition of August 25, 2008 of "Raw", but lost the match. On the edition of October 20 of "Raw", Duggan confronted Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix during one of Marella's tirades against his three possible opponents at Cyber Sunday (Roddy Piper, Goldust, and The Honky Tonk Man). Upset at being interrupted, Marella took off his clothes, getting ready to fight Duggan. Yet before a fight could begin, Marella instructed Phoenix to throw the clothes in Duggan's face, a move that temporarily distracted Duggan. Marella then smashed a guitar over Duggan's head, ending the segment. Duggan would appear on "Raw"'s 800th episode during Kung Fu Naki's in-ring dance segment, which also involved various other members of the WWE roster.