when he teamed with El Felino and Negro Casas in a six-man tag team two out of three falls match at Arena Coliseo, where they were defeated by Máscara Dorada, Rush and Titán. Nakamura quickly started a rivalry with La Sombra and after suffering two pinfall defeats in six-man tag team matches on April 17 and 24 accepted his challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, setting up a Fantastica Mania 2013 rematch between the two. The match took place on May 31 and saw Nakamura once again losing to La Sombra for the IWGP Intercontinental Champion, ending his reign at 313 days and eight successful title defenses. Nakamura wrestled his final match of the tour on June 9, when he was defeated by Rush in a singles match. Nakamura returned to New Japan on June 22 at Dominion 6.22 in a tag team match, where he and Tomohiro Ishii were defeated by Minoru Suzuki and Shelton X Benjamin, who pinned Nakamura for the win. On July 20, Nakamura regained the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from La Sombra, becoming the first multi-time holder of the title. From August 1 to 11, Nakamura took part in the 2013 G1 Climax. Finishing with a record of five wins and four losses, Nakamura narrowly failed to advance to the finals after losing to Shelton X Benjamin on the final day. On September 29 at Destruction, Nakamura defeated Benjamin to make the first successful defense of his second reign as the IWGP Intercontinental Champion. His second successful defense took place on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling, when he defeated Pro Wrestling Noah representative Naomichi Marufuji. On November 9 at Power Struggle, Nakamura made his third successful title defense against Minoru Suzuki in a match which had the added stipulation that Nakamura would have had to join Suzuki-gun had he lost the title. Post-match, Nakamura nominated Hiroshi Tanahashi as his next challenger, setting up the first title match between the two longtime rivals in over two years. From November 23 to December 7, Nakamura and Ishii took part in the 2013 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of three wins and three losses, with a loss against Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma on the final day costing them a spot in the semi-finals. On January 4, 2014, Nakamura lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Tanahashi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8