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.