We've learned ... Hulk and high-ranking WWE officials have been in touch recently and it's been positive.

In fact, we're told when the WWE made plans for an event in Saudi Arabia, one of the members of the royal family specifically asked for Hulk to participate.

Ultimately, Hulk didn't go ... but it triggered a dialogue between the two sides. Also, Hulk and Vince McMahon both appeared in Bill Simmons' recent Andre the Giant documentary ... though, not together.

Of course, Hulk got the axe from WWE in 2015 after a racist N-word rant went public. Hulk apologized and several African-American wrestlers publicly offered their support for Hogan.

Now, we're told the WWE wants to bring him back into the fold -- and Hulk is down -- but everyone wants to make sure it's done "the right way."

We're told everyone wants to be sensitive to the audience that was offended by the racist rant -- while showing Hulk's learned from his mistakes and is a changed man.

Our sources say WWE was paying close attention to Hulk's speech at the Boys & Girls Club this week -- in which he said he wanted to help educate kids to not use the same language he did -- because they wanted to see how it was received. It went well with the crowd which gave Hogan a loud ovation.

We reached out to WWE ... who gave us the following statement.

"WWE applauds the work Hulk Hogan is doing with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to turn what was a negative into a positive by helping young people learn from his mistake. While he has taken many steps in the right direction since we parted ways, Hogan is not currently under contract to WWE."