Goldberg shocked the world when he made his return to the WWE in 2016 after 14 years away from the company.Not only that, but the former WCW icon returned and fought Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in 2016 and dismantled the Beast Incarnate inside a few short minutes.That led to the 51-year-old facing off against Kevin Owens for the Universal Champion at Fastlane and, once again, defeating his foe within a matter of minutes.He would then wrestle Lesnar in a rematch at WrestleMania 33, but would drop the title and lose in his last-ever match.Or so we were led to believe.Goldberg is now being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class 2018 and that will happen on the Friday night before WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans.However, notorious wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer claims the former three-time world champion has been in talks recently to return to the ring - and not with the WWE."I don’t expect anything to happen right now, given Bill Goldberg is going into the WWE Hall of Fame and usually that requires signing a short-term deal, but he was in talks with New Japan about coming in for big shows," Meltzer said.

Of course, Chris Jericho has just had a very memorable match with Kenny Omega for the same promotion at their version of WrestleMania, Wrestle Kingdom 12.

Jericho looks set to hang around after attacking Tetsuya Naito following Wrestle Kingdom 12 and Goldberg actually had a brief stint in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) between 2002 and 2003 - just prior to his initial WWE run.

In all honesty, it would be pretty shocking if Goldberg agreed a deal with New Japan. After all, he suggested his final run with the WWE was just so his family could see him wrestle - not because of his love for the profession.

With the money from that spell and the pending income he will get from headlining a Hall of Fame class, he doesn't need to go to Japan and wrestle at all.

Furthermore, as Meltzer mentioned, WWE would probably want to tie him to a legends contract as part of the ceremony.

However, NJPW has been very aggressive with its expansion into the U.S. and, truth be told, a name like Goldberg would give them a big audience in the States, no matter who he faced.

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