It has been confirmed that the Undertaker has suffered a complete tear to his biceps and will be out of action for the rest of the year.

WWE announced Tuesday night at the SmackDown tapings in Birmingham, Alabama that the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion will face Batista on next week’s edition of SmackDown in a cage match.

In all likelihood, Undertaker will drop the belt despite the original plan to give him a substantial run with the title.

The two most obvious candidates to replace Undertaker as champion are Batista, who is in next week’s match, and Mr. Kennedy who has the Money in the Bank title shot that he won at WrestleMania.

While the outcome of next week’s title match on SmackDown has yet to be confirmed, expect Undertaker to drop the belt due to the severity of his injury.