Against All Odds 2011: A Strong Closing Run Overcomes a Throwaway Opening

Robbie E receives a forfeit victory over Jeremy and Max Buck in the advertised X Division three-way contender match, but the entire segment lasts only 0:27. There is no full three-person wrestling contest to analyze: the forfeit awards Robbie E the contender position and sets up his immediate challenge to champion Kazarian in the next match. Its F and 2.5 score captures that distinction between a storyline device and an actual pay-per-view wrestling attraction. The card gets much stronger later, particularly the ladder main event involving Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson. For anyone replaying Against All Odds 2011, knowing the contender outcome is enough; no full viewing is required.

Kazarian had to defend the X Division Championship immediately after Robbie E claimed the contender position without wrestling. Generation Me could not make the advertised three-way because of travel problems, so the referee counted both Bucks absent and raised Robbie's arm after ten. Robbie celebrated as though he had won a major match, only for Kazarian to confront him and demand that the audience see an actual title defense. Their match was a separate contest from the forfeit, with Cookie positioned at ringside to help the challenger.

Robbie slowed the champion with a collision into the steel steps, corner strikes and a headlock. Kazarian responded with a springboard dropkick and close near falls. Cookie landed an illegal strike while the official was distracted, creating another Robbie cover, but the interference did not change the title. Kazarian caught Robbie attempting a corner reversal and finished with his inverted tombstone piledriver. The C+ (6.7) rewards a clear counter and a genuine championship defense, while the rushed setup and ringside meddling keep this from being a substantial X Division showcase.

Scott Steiner joined Beer Money's James Storm and Robert Roode against Immortal members Gunner, Murphy and Rob Terry. This six-man tag supplied the card's clearest early faction confrontation after its unusual X Division forfeit. Steiner opened by throwing Gunner and Murphy with suplexes and standing up to Terry's strength. Immortal regrouped, isolated Storm through frequent tags and pushed him into the corner, with Terry using a shoulder-carry powerslam while Gunner and Murphy kept the pressure on.

Storm created space with a backcracker and finally tagged Roode. The comeback featured clotheslines, a Storm superkick on Murphy, the Beer Money double suplex and several Roode spinebusters. Steiner tagged in for the final escalation and climbed the corner with Gunner, delivering a Frankensteiner and covering Gunner for the pin. The C+ (6.8) reflects a competent ten-minute faction showcase with a memorable finishing move and coherent momentum shifts. Its chief historical use is developing the Fortune-versus-Immortal feud, not resolving a championship.

D'Angelo Dinero tried to avoid wrestling Samoa Joe head-on, stalling on the apron and repeatedly stepping out of the ring. Eventually he attempted to walk away, but Joe's cameraman Okato intercepted him on the ramp and steered him back. Okato was a corner associate, not a legal entrant. Joe then dived through the ropes, battered Dinero with forearms and used his running corner boot. Dinero answered with an eye rake, knee strikes and a late attempt to expose an upper turnbuckle pad.

The exposed corner did not decide the official match. Joe stopped himself before crashing into it, countered a Dinero rollup and turned the move into a rear-naked choke. Dinero submitted in 8:29. Afterward the challenger offered a handshake, attacked Joe and Okato, and drove Joe into the now-exposed buckle with a double-knee move, leaving him bleeding. Those post-match actions are separate from the submission and must not change the winner or legal participants. The B- (7.3) reflects a strong counter-finish and effective grudge escalation despite long stalling stretches.

Madison Rayne defended the Knockouts Championship against Mickie James under Last Knockout Standing rules, which call for a ten-count rather than a pin. The opponents used the ringside area as a weapon. Rayne shoved James into steel steps, James sent Rayne into the post and both fought up before the referee could count them out. James survived a tumble to the floor by rising at nine, then returned with a top-rope splash and spinning kick that made Rayne look vulnerable.

Rayne's ally Tara approached the ring, but James knocked her away and prevented an easy distraction. Rayne then produced concealed brass knuckles and struck James. Rayne initially attempted an instinctive cover before telling the official to apply the actual knockout count, and James could not stand before ten. Rayne retained in 8:27 through the stipulated count, not a successful three-count pin. The B (7.6) values the escalating recovery tests and rivalry, although the decisive hidden weapon undercuts a sporting victory.

Rob Van Dam faced Matt Hardy in a February rematch after Hardy had beaten him at Genesis the previous month. Hardy presented a harsher attitude and tried to ground the faster opponent with head strikes and submissions. After Van Dam's early spinning kick, Hardy pulled him down against the ring apron and attacked him along the barricade. A DDT and leg drop kept RVD in trouble, while a double-underhook hold forced Van Dam to use the bottom rope to escape.

Van Dam found his rhythm with kicks and evasions. He adjusted when Hardy avoided Rolling Thunder, produced a moonsault and then escaped the Twist of Fate before landing a hard kick. Hardy blocked one high-risk attempt but later missed a moonsault of his own. Van Dam climbed again and hit the Five-Star Frog Splash to win at 13:18. The B- (7.4) rewards a complete middle-card exchange with sustained Hardy control and a clear aerial counter-finish. The rematch equalized their recent singles results; it was unrelated to Jeff Hardy's later world-title ladder match on the same card.

Former Team 3D partners Bully Ray and Brother Devon fought a Street Fight driven by Ray's threats toward Devon's sons. Ray hid before the entrance, but Devon caught the ambush and battered him with a camera cable, kendo stick and ringside chair. Although Devon had instructed his sons to stay backstage, they came out and helped hold Ray for their father's familiar top-rope headbutt. The family even pulled a table into the ring, a reminder of Team 3D's old routine despite the wrestlers now being opponents.

Ray turned the encounter with a low blow and handcuffed Devon to a turnbuckle. The sons attempted to free him and became the targets of Ray's assaults, leaving Devon unable to intervene. Ray was awarded the Street Fight victory amid the commotion. Contemporary play-by-play differs on whether the fall physically involved one of the sons, so the Event File retains the official Ray-versus-Devon contest without adding an unverified legal participant. After the result, Ray powerbombed one son through the table and officials rushed to assist. The B- (7.2) weighs intense personal storytelling against the chaotic interference and unsatisfying finish.

Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett wrestled under an uncomfortable family stipulation: Angle was told victory would restore custody of his children, while a Jarrett win would force him to escort Karen at their vow renewal. Angle attacked with repeated suplexes and attempts to apply the ankle lock, but Karen interrupted whenever he seemed to have the match won. She slapped him outside, distracted the referee during an Angle Slam cover and again drew attention away when Jarrett was trapped in a late hold.

Jarrett hit The Stroke, a version from the second rope, a low blow and a chair shot when the referee's view was blocked. Angle survived and applied another ankle lock. Jarrett tapped while the official was distracted, so the submission was not recorded. Angle then attempted a sunset flip, and Jarrett stayed upright and dropped over Angle's chest to hook the legs for the deciding pin. Angle left his wrestling boots in the ring afterward. The B+ (8.4) reflects a tense, physical exchange whose result depended heavily on Karen's interference and a deliberately uncomfortable family storyline.

Jeff Hardy reclaimed the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Mr. Anderson in the ladder-match main event. The challenger's customized brightly painted ladder featured in several exchanges, while Anderson answered with a Russian leg sweep onto a ladder and a Green Bay Plunge that drove Hardy onto the steel. Hardy produced a sunset-flip powerbomb from a ladder, then avoided Anderson's attempted high-risk senton. The pair later climbed separate ladders, traded strikes within reach of the suspended belt and fell to the mat together without bringing down the belt. Hardy got back up, climbed once more and pulled down the championship to finish the match at approximately 18:15. Contemporary match reports describe the final attempted belt grab as awkward or abrupt, a useful counterweight to the physical creativity before it. The title switch makes the fight historically essential, but it was not a seamless ladder-match finish. The A- and 8.8 score credits the extensive action, risk and stakes while allowing that important criticism.