Van Dam made another successful title defense on December 9 at Final Resolution, defeating Kenny King. On the following episode of "Impact Wrestling", Van Dam lost a non-title match to King, when King pinned him with his feet on the ropes. On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, Van Dam defeated Christian York to retain the X Division Championship. On the February 7 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Van Dam successfully defended the X Division Championship against Kenny King and Zema Ion in a three-way match. Two weeks later, Van Dam defeated King again to retain his title. King defeated Van Dam on the February 28 "Impact Wrestling", ending Van Dam's reign at 137 days. In March 2013, Van Dam's TNA contract expired and he did an interview about his future with TNA, stating that he'd return to TV on WWE or TNA, saying that he was negotiating with both companies. According to Van Dam, he lost his passion for professional wrestling during his work in TNA due to the attitude of his coworkers.