Originally Posted by Cableguy15

I don't agree with this theory mainly because I think the idea of zenkai was almost completely scrapped (With the exception of Cell, of course) by the time SSJ was thought up, similar to how Kaioken was scrapped.

Also, Goku didn't have a near-death experience to begin with. He was injured, but not anywhere within range of the past zenkais that we've seen in the past. The closest was arguably Vegeta's, but even then there was a clear difference between his injuries and Goku's.

And finally, Goku would need to be healed to get a zenkai.