After wrestling to a double countout on the January 5, 2012, edition of "Impact Wrestling", Gunner made a failed attempt to piledrive Van Dam into the concrete floor after Van Dam back body dropped him onto it. Three days later at Genesis, Van Dam was defeated by Gunner and was afterwards stretchered backstage, after taking a DDT onto the concrete floor. After a near three-month absence Van Dam resumed working live events in late March. Van Dam returned to "Impact Wrestling" on April 12, being revealed as the fifth member of Garett Bischoff's team at Lockdown. At the pay-per-view, Team Garett defeated a team led by Eric Bischoff. On the following episode of "Impact Wrestling", Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson in a three-way match to become the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Van Dam received his title opportunity in a ladder match on May 13 at Sacrifice, but was defeated by the defending champion, Bobby Roode. At Slammiversary on June 10, Van Dam was defeated by Mr. Anderson in a three-way number one contender's match, also involving Jeff Hardy. Later that week on "Impact Wrestling", Van Dam entered the 2012 Bound for Glory Series. At Hardcore Justice, Van Dam defeated Magnus and Mr. Anderson in a Falls Count Anywhere match. He wrestled his final match in the tournament on the September 6 "Impact Wrestling", losing to Bully Ray, thus finishing fifth and narrowly missing the semifinals of the tournament. On the October 4 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Van Dam unsuccessfully challenged Samoa Joe for the TNA Television Championship.