On May 31, 2016, Goldberg was announced as the pre-order bonus for the upcoming "WWE 2K17" video game. Throughout the summer, Goldberg and "WWE 2K17" cover star and former rival Brock Lesnar traded insults with each other through social media and WWE 2K events such as Gamescom. Goldberg would also appear at the WWE 2K SummerSlam event the weekend before the pay-per-view event took place, fueling speculation he would be appearing at the event to confront Lesnar. This led to Paul Heyman challenging Goldberg to face Lesnar on the October 10 episode of "Raw", with Heyman stating that Goldberg was the one blemish on Lesnar's WWE career, as Goldberg had defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania XX in 2004. The following week on "Raw", Goldberg returned to WWE for the first time in twelve years, accepting Heyman's challenge. The match took place at Survivor Series, where Goldberg defeated Lesnar in 1 minute and 26 seconds. Months later, Goldberg would participate in the 2017 Royal Rumble match, where he entered at number 28 and eliminated Lesnar following a brief confrontation and a spear, as well as eliminating Rusev and Luke Harper before being eliminated by The Undertaker.