I'm also getting this bug my world is also from before the nether update. If that helps. Placing a lighting source near where this is happening fixes this. Seems to happen almost everytime when entering the overworld from the nether
Re you smelting the meteorite into netherite scrap then from there you have to put 4 scrap and 4 gold ingots into a crafting bench to get netherite ingots then you can upgrade your gear in a blacksmith's table
I'm also having this problem, also villagers that I had before 1.16 that were around level 3 upon reaching level 4 it would just reset to level 3 then be fine and now my villagers wont reset and breaking their work stations does nothing they never try to connect to them
Unfortunately I dont know how to upload a screenshot from my ps4 to here so I took a photo with my phone I freed the golem by removing the bush. But sorry if the quality is too bad
Happening to me as well in digital version