a Cell pay-per-view on September 16, general manager Paige ordered Nakamura to defend the championship on the September 18 episode of SmackDown Live, which he did so successfully, defeating Rusev. At SmackDown 1000, Nakamura lost to the returning Rey Mysterio in a qualifying match for the WWE World Cup at Crown Jewel. It was announced that Nakamura would defend the title against Rusev at Crown Jewel's kickoff show on November 2, in which he successfully retained. Nakamura lost to Raw's WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins in an interbrand Champion vs Champion match at Survivor Series on November 18. On the December 25 episode of SmackDown Live (taped on December 18), Nakamura lost the WWE United States Championship to Rusev, ending his reign at 156 days. On January 27, 2019, at the Royal Rumble, Nakamura defeated Rusev to win his second WWE United States Championship. Later that night, he participated in the Royal Rumble match entering at No. 3 but was eliminated by Mustafa Ali. Two days later on SmackDown Live, Nakamura lost the title to R-Truth. Rusev then confronted Truth and pushed him into a title match, but Truth retained the title. After the match, Nakamura joined forces with Rusev into attacking Truth, starting an alliance between the two. At the Fastlane pre-show on March 2, Nakamura and Rusev were defeated by The New Day. At WrestleMania 35 on April 7, Nakamura and Rusev would compete in a fatal four-way tag team match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. The duo returned during the 51-Man Battle Royal at Super ShowDown on June 7, but they were both eliminated during the match. The Artist Collective and Intercontinental Champion (2019–2021) At the Extreme Rules pre-show on July 14, Nakamura defeated Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor to win the title for the first time in his career. This win made him the second man, after Chris Jericho, to have held both the IWGP and WWE Intercontinental Championship, as well as the first Asian-born wrestler to win the title. On July 27, he retained his title against Ali at Smackville. He then started an alliance with Sami Zayn, defeating The Miz with his help at Clash of Champions on September 15 to retain the title. At Crown Jewel on October 31, Nakamura was a member of Team Flair, where they lost to Team Hogan. At Survivor Series on November 24, Nakamura lost