On January 4, 2011, Van Dam traveled to Japan with other TNA wrestlers to take part New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) fifth annual "Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome", where he defeated Toru Yano in a hardcore match. At Genesis Van Dam was defeated by Immortal's surprise opponent, the debuting Matt Hardy, when referee Jackson James missed Van Dam's foot under the ropes, thus failing to earn a shot at his brother Jeff's TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During the main event Van Dam prevented Matt from interfering in Jeff's match with Mr. Anderson, which led to Jeff losing the title. The following month at Against All Odds, Van Dam defeated Matt Hardy in a rematch. On the following episode of "Impact!", Van Dam finally received his shot at Jeff Hardy and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to regain the title. On March 13 at Victory Road, Van Dam wrestled Mr. Anderson to a double countout in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship number one contender's match. On April 17 at Lockdown, Van Dam failed in his attempt to regain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Sting in a three–way steel cage match, which also included Anderson. The following month at Sacrifice, Van Dam again failed to regain the title, this time in a singles match with Sting.