He returned on February 24, 2011 at the tapings of the March 3 edition of "Impact!", where he appeared as a surprise challenger and defeated Immortal's Jeff Hardy to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. On March 13 at Victory Road, Sting successfully defended the title against Hardy in a No Disqualification rematch that lasted ninety seconds. According to word from backstage, the match was planned to last longer, but it was cut short after Hardy was deemed too intoxicated to wrestle. Sting was later heard agreeing with a fan's claim that the match was "bullshit". The following month at Lockdown, Sting successfully defended the title against Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam in a three-way steel cage match, Van Dam at Sacrifice, and Anderson at Slammiversary IX, where he lost the title following outside interference from Eric Bischoff.