When WWE first announced a long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia to bring shows to the Kingdom a few times a year, it drew a variety of different reactions from around the professional wrestling world, with some condemning the decision and others viewing it as an opportunity for growth for the biggest professional wrestling company in the world today.

But how did it feel to actually be on one of those trips, wrestling for fans who clearly love the product but are getting the show through a government that is anything but morally pure? Well, on his Extreme Life podcast, Matt Hardy pulled back the curtain to reveal what it's really like for the members of the WWE roster, including the dos and don'ts told to each Superstar before they land.

“Uh, one of the big things especially for the wrestlers, no alcohol was allowed there. They said don't try to bring alcohol, don't try to bring drugs, that's like a very, very big deal and a very serious crime if you do that,” Matt Hardy explained on his Extreme Life podcast via Fightful. “That's the first thing that really stands out, I think. That was the main thing and everything else was kind of, be decent. I think they said don't venture out on your own or go with someone's away, kind of stick around or near the hotel. I think we almost had to because we were only there for, like, you know, a day before, and then it was the show.”

Hardy also discussed how his fellow WWE Superstars felt about working shows in Saudi Arabia, noting that while some members of the roster openly objected to the booking, for the most part, everyone viewed it like just another show.

“There were some people that weren't crazy about it, most people were just like, ‘Yeah, it's another town, another booking.' That's how the majority of people were,” Hardy recalled. “There were some people who weren't fans of it and I guess I kind of get that, it depends on where everyone stands on their belief of morality or whatever else you want to classify it as. The majority of people were like, ‘Okay, well, it's another booking to take care of, so we're gonna go over there and do it, and then we'll come back.'”

Is Hardy's experience uniformly representative of the rest of the locker room? It's hard to say, but ultimately, his insight is incredibly valuable, as it lets fans in on the inner workings of what WWE Superstars have to go through a few times a year, whether they like it or not.

Matt Hardy on how the locker room reacted to Undertaker-Goldberg.

Elsewhere on the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the “Broken One” discussed what it was like to see The Undertaker wrestle Goldberg in 2019 at the Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia, calling it a true WWE locker room sell-out due to the potential for a truly disastrous outcome.

“I remember watching it beside Randy Orton, it was a locker room sellout. And I just remember like, that deal where Taker came down on his head, just the looks in between people, like, ‘[gasps].' People were pretty shocked by it. And I remember — you said 25 years, I feel like it was probably 20 years ago. Right? Like, is that what it was in 2019? So yeah, '99, it would have been a huge match, whatever. But I think a lot of people who — a lot of talent were worried the match was going to be what it ended up being. As opposed to like, being able to kind of get through something that was solid, but quick and impactful. And unfortunately, I think there were a lot of people that thought it might end up being like it was, and it ended up being that way,” Matt Hardy explained on Extreme Life via 411 Mania.

“I think people — I don't think were anticipating a disaster. I think everyone hoped they would go out and they would put in five good smart, well-worked, quality minutes of entertainment. So I think people knew it had the potential to not be great, so I think that's why so many people were like watching. It happen to me in the locker room, where we were all like changing and getting ready, so it was on a monitor there. So we had the ability to. But I remember as the match went on and the deeper it got over those next few minutes like everybody was watching it.”

Was Undertaker-Goldeberg I a dud? Yes, it was quite literally one of the worst matches you can imagine and remains one of the lowest-rated matches on Cagematch to this day as a result. In the end, it makes sense why the WWE locker room made sure to watch the match, as they were certainly in for a show… a horror show, that is.