From the WWE Rumor Mill: Update on The Undertaker's possible in-ring return

What's the story?

The Undertaker is a shoo-in for the WWE Hall Of Fame at this point but what isn't entirely certain is if The Dead Man is truly retired from in-ring competition. It was assumed Roman Reigns retired The Undertaker after WrestleMania 33 when The Phenom went through the process of removing his hat, gloves, and coat to fold everything up and leave in the ring at the end of the night.

But Dave Meltzer said in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that The Undertaker's return for another match is still a possibility and we might know soon enough if it will become a reality.

In case you didn't know...

Famously regarded as one of the greatest big men of all time, The Undertaker left a trail of bodies and a legendary career behind him. Even if WrestleMania 33 was his final match he had an amazing career that will always be regarded as legendary.

But when all you have to do is come back and work one time a year doing a job you love for a ton of money, sometimes it's hard to stay retired.

The heart of the matter

Raw will celebrate its big 25th Anniversary on January 22nd, 2018. They plan to air the big show from two locations - the Barclays Center and The Manhatten Center. It looks like they're going to bring a huge show and have mentioned an appearance from The Undertaker could be coming among many other pro wrestling legends.

Dave Meltzer said in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that when taking the timing of the event into consideration, fans should know whether The Undertaker will be coming back for another match depending on how he is used on the upcoming Raw special. Therefore, if Taker cuts an angle leading toward something, it's likely to happen during the big anniversary show.

Meltzer said the belief is The Undertaker has pretty much retired every year for a few years now. But the fact he only has to work one time a year and gets such a large amount of money is always hard to pass up. Only time will tell if he will return again at this point, but we'll probably have a good idea on January 22nd.

What's next?

It's interesting to note that if The Undertaker does come back for another match his most likely opponent would be Roman Reigns. But "The Big Dog" is already rumoured to be booked for the main event match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 even before 33 kicked off.

Therefore it might be interesting to see how WWE would use The Undertaker if he did return to the ring.

Author's take

The Undertaker has given his body to entertain the masses for so long that he deserves to take it easy. After all, he has a good life right now at home in Texas with Michelle McCool and their daughter.

But it would be hard to fully separate The Undertaker from WWE and vice versa. It seems the two are destined to be intertwined in some respect until the end of time. But if The Undertaker does have anything to do with WrestleMania 34, I would much rather see him take his rightful place alongside the other immortals in the WWE Hall Of Fame.

Don't get me wrong, it would be awesome to see him in the ring again but he doesn't need to do that anymore. After WrestleMania 33's conclusion, the torch was passed to Roman Reigns for him to run with now and WrestleMania 34's conclusion very well might cement that fact.