Besides Edge with the first MITB match, is this the longest someone has gone without cashing it in? Also, is it me or have the 'rules' about cashing it in changed a whole hell of a lot? I thought I recall that all you need to do is tell the ref you are cashing it in and then its done. Instead you tell someone, you wait for the bell....or you wait for a ref...if something goes awry you simply take the case and go to the back.
The rules haven't changed. The ref has to ring the bell. They're just overdoing it with Ziggler.
Remember when Swagger won it three years ago. First, he tried to cash it on Cena. But, by the time the ref got to the ring, Cena recovered and put Swagger in the STF. Swagger got to the ropes and escaped, yanking the briefcase out of the ref's hands and calling it off, before the ref could ring the bell.
On Smackdown, he clobbered Edge with the briefcase, after Edge speared an injured Jericho. This time, Swagger made sure that Jericho was completely helpless before cashing the briefcase. Then, he won the title.
Miz did that twice, when Sheamus was champion. Both times, R-Truth stopped him from completing the cashin deal.
But, they're going too far with Ziggler. Big Show knocked him out, before he could cash it on Sheamus. Cena beat him up, before he could cash it on Big Show. The last time, Ricardo Rodriguez stole the briefcase from the ref and from Ziggler, before he could cash it on Alberto Del Rio. By the time Ziggler got it back, Del Rio knocked him out with a kick to the head.
I've lost count of how many false starts Ziggler has had.