By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

Updated Monday, November 3 - evening update

- Big Raw tonight. Of course, all of these three-hour shows are supposed to be big deals, but there's the inevitable lull in the middle of the show when a segment misses or there's a match that drags after a hot segment.

There's always the surprise factor in play. We saw Rob Van Dam pop up out of nowhere on the 15-year celebration show in December 2007, and there have been rumblings of a Psycho Sid return tonight. Sid hasn't been on WWE TV since June 1997 and his last national appearance was on WCW TV in 2001 when he snapped his ankle in one of the most gruesome TV wrestling moments of all-time.

But, the most intriguing element of tonight's show will be the DX vs. Miz & Morrison tag match. When the match was booked last week, everyone was thinking of DX running through the likes of Spirit Squad, Lance Cade, and generic men in the ole Triple H stack-the-deck-but-not-really gauntlet.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels have a chance to elevate Miz & Morrison tonight. Will they and should they? That remains to be seen, but the key is whether two of the top veterans in the WWE locker room see Miz and Morrison as being "worth the rub," to use an expression from Kevin Nash on Impact.

One the sentiments from Sting's "respect" storyline on TNA TV that has been taken from the locker room has been a sense of entitlement from younger wrestlers; as if they deserve to be elevated.

It's not made public what kind of work ethic Miz and Morrison have, or what their attitude is in the locker room. Hunter and Michaels know, though. If they feel Miz and Morrison can build on a match where they go 15-20 minutes in a potential tag team classic with DX sneaking out a win or if they should outright take a loss to elevate Miz and Morrison, then they'll do what's right.

We know Michaels and Hunter have tremendous creative input, so pay close attention to the outcome and overall match flow. It will be telling what kind of respect (or lack of) DX has for their opponents in the ring on the three-hour Raw tonight.

- Jim Cornette is on the "Who's Slamming Who" podcast at 6:00 p.m. EST tonight prior to Raw. Cornette has virtually disappeared from TNA TV over the last month, with Mick Foley taking over as "executive shareholder" on TV. ... Chris Sabin will be appearing on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show, along with Erin Murphy, who was eliminated from Hulk Hogan's CCW show this past weekend.

- The DVD release of "Get Smart," starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, and Dwayne Johnson is tomorrow at major retailers. Maybe a quick trip to Circuit City will be in order since they announced today they're closing down 150 stores nationwide.

- Meanwhile, video game sites are jumping on a leaked memo from WWE and THQ instructing them not to show Triple H in a vulnerable position when reviewing the Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 video game. The game comes out on Nov. 9 and the memo says: "refrain from showing Triple H in a losing/defeated/defenseless position." Not a shock there.

The memo also instructs sites to refrain from showing blood or violence when promoting and/or reviewing the game. That falls in line with what Vince McMahon has been promoting as a more family-friendly WWE product.

Video game blogger Michael Thompson writes: "Companies making content requests of news outlets when they write up previews isn't anything new in the gaming world. Nor is it that unusual to see developers or publishers make strange requests of reporters when we review or preview a game. THQ and WWE can now be added to the list for making bizarre demands of publications writing about the upcoming Smackdown vs Raw game." Blog link.

Since we did not receive the memo, here's a video of Triple H in a defenseless position against The Undertaker.



- And now a word from Don West, whose latest Insane Deal of the Day is a three-item set with an A.J. Styles "Flying Forearm" t-shirt, an autographed photo of Styles hitting the forearm, and the recently-released TNA Ultimate Matches DVD. It's just entertaining watching West selling the limited-edition collector's set for over four minutes.



- Independent news and notes: Fresh off his PWG Battle of Los Angeles tournament victory, Low-Ki will be at the IWC "November Pain 4" show in Elizabeth, Pa. on Saturday night. Low-Ki will face 2 Cold Scorpio in the main event. ... PGWA is promoting a women's title match featuring Roxxi from TNA (known as Nikki Roxx on the independent scene) in Millersville, Tenn. on Saturday, Nov. 15. Roxxi will be defending against Tracy Taylor. ... Championship Wrestling's next event is Saturday in Greeneville, Tenn. and they're running a free show for Fan Appreciation Night. On their previous show this past Saturday, Beautiful Bobby Eaton defeated Eric Steele on the undercard.

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