[5] The primary storyline which was featured at Victory Road was between defending champion Sting and challenger Jeff Hardy for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

On the March 3 edition of TNA Impact!, a show slated to shed light on a cryptic "3.3.11" promo shown a week prior, Sting, brought back by "The Network", made a surprise return coming off months of absence after failing to persuade Dixie Carter about the Immortal takeover, to challenge and win the title from Hardy, who was one of the frontrunners of the group.

Moments after, "TNA owner" and Immortal members Hulk Hogan and his partner Eric Bischoff announced that it would be Sting against Hardy at Victory Road with the championship on the line.

On the February 17 edition of TNA Impact!, Anderson protested Van Dam receiving a title shot that night over his rematch clause entitlement, but Bischoff told him that "The Network" wants ratings, and don't favor him due to his lack of family friendly nature, but made Anderson Special Referee of the match on terms of calling it impartially.

[9] On the March 3 edition of TNA Impact!, Anderson sought to cash in on his contention that night, but Sting returned and was selected to face Hardy for the title, which he won.

[10] The following week, Hardy, upset for being unprepared to face the returning likes of Sting in a world title defense, told Anderson that he had to wait in line.

Van Dam also inserted that he was stripped of the title months ago, and felt screwed when Anderson officiated his match with Hardy for the championship.

[8] The following week, before their match only amounted to a brawl, Flair, now with Immortal, dropped his Fortune leadership to Styles, disrespecting him vocally and physically in the process, igniting full-on retaliation.

That night, Kazarian fought Robbie E for the title and picked up a disqualification win due to Cookie's interference, prompting Traci Brooks to make the save.

Upon exiting the ring, a visibly angry Sting responded to chants from fans who were outraged at the length of the match and at Hardy's condition, as it was clear he was completely unfit to wrestle.

TNA later apologized to its fans for the pay-per-view "falling short of their standard" and offered six months of free access to the TNAondemand.com library to anyone who bought the event.

As Dixie Carter was not in gorilla at the time, nor was anyone else in power, Bischoff took it upon himself to call an audible and told both participants (while trying to cut an impromptu promo) to end the match with Sting winning as quick as possible.

Bischoff also added that had Hardy been discovered 45 minutes sooner, TNA would have likely been able to find a replacement and inform all of the affected parties in time.