On November 15, The Undertaker made his return to WWE television on SmackDown, during the “Cutting Edge” segment, which featured all of the blue brand’s top stars. Upon returning, he told the WWE fans that he was back and that WrestleMania would no longer define him. We haven’t seen him since.

By now, everybody knows the rumor — which was first published by Forbes— which suggests that The Undertaker will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble show on January 29. If the rumor is true, then we should see The Deadman pop up again after the new year.

The rumor not only suggests that he’ll take on AJ Styles in January, it also suggests that he’ll win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and go on to defend it against John Cena at WrestleMania 33. Of course, Cena has been on a two-year quest to tie Ric Flair’s record for most WWE World Heavyweight Championship wins, and most figure that he’ll tie that record at WrestleMania 33.

WWE could be looking at doing a championship vs. career match in Orlando next spring, where if The Undertaker loses, he’ll be forced to retire. The Undertaker will lose the career vs. title match on April 2, and then be forced to retire.

Undertaker, who will be 52 by the time WrestleMania 33 rolls around, has been a WWE mainstay for almost three decades. During that time, he’s held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship multiple times, and he’s had some of the best matches in WWE history at their biggest event of the year, WrestleMania.

Last year, it was rumored that The Undertaker would headline the Hall of Fame ceremony in Dallas. But, WWE ultimately decided to have Sting close the show. If The Deadman is, in fact, retiring following WrestleMania 33, then he’d be a good choice to close out the Hall of Fame ceremony. Of course, that might give away the finish of the next night’s match, however, they did do the very same thing with Ric Flair in 2008, and it ended up being an incredible weekend. So, they could do it again.