At Extreme Rules, Hardy lost the title to Shinsuke Nakamura, after a pre-match low blow by Nakamura, ending his reign at 90 days. After the match, Randy Orton attacked Hardy with a low blow. Two days later on "SmackDown Live", Hardy had a rematch with Nakamura, winning by disqualification after Orton attacked Hardy. Hardy received another rematch at SummerSlam, but was again defeated by Nakamura. On the August 21 episode of "SmackDown Live", Hardy and Orton faced off in a match that ended in a no-contest, with Hardy continuing to attack Orton after the match. The following week, Hardy challenged Orton to a Hell in a Cell match at the namesake pay-per-view, which Orton accepted. At the event on September 16, Hardy lost to Orton. After nearly a month off, Hardy returned on the October 9 episode of "SmackDown Live", defeating Samoa Joe to qualify for the WWE World Cup tournament at Crown Jewel. At the event, Hardy lost to The Miz in the first round of the tournament. On the November 6 episode of "SmackDown Live", Hardy lost to Samoa Joe in an attempt to join Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. However, the following week, Hardy defeated Andrade "Cien" Almas to earn a spot on Team SmackDown, after team member Daniel Bryan was removed from the match. At Survivor Series, Team SmackDown lost to Team Raw. At the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 27, 2019, Hardy participated in the Royal Rumble match, but was unsuccessful. At Elimination Chamber, Hardy failed to capture the WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, after being eliminated by Daniel Bryan.