Let's focus on the good things from Raw:

Damien Sandow
Punk's lines during the lie detector test
Teddy Long taking a tag match and making it into something else besides a tag match
We got to witness the Miz's face character go from decent to total AIDS in record time

Someone on this board dissuaded me from the notion that Miz would be a very good face to begin with, so my hopes weren't up.

I don't remember who it was, but when they said that he was just going to tell poop jokes, I had a moment of clarity and realized just how correct that was and just how bad his chances were at being an enjoyable babyface character.

jerry lawler is a face

that tells you all you need to know about how the wwe grooms their faces and how undoubtedly awful all the people we think would be good at it would be

never turn ziggler plz

Daniel Bryan is a quasi-face right now and is still good.

That much won't last once he goes full-blown face, but for now it's working.

Came in to thread to post this exact quote and you beat me to it. I almost lost it when he said that.

I got the vibe during the whole lie detector segment that there was some serious heat between Punk and Miz.

That last segment had me wondering where in the world is Jack Swagger?

lolwhat?

Man, you guys were in super hate mode tonight. Sure the Vince/Vickie stuff was AIDS, and forcing Ziggler to put up his briefcase sucks, but I thought the parts of RAW I saw were pretty good:

Hell No with a clean victory, Sandow beat up another goofball, the 4 way match was great (lol'd hard at teddy undoing a tag match), really enjoyed Punk just being a total ass all night.

The last segment definitely had the feel of real heat to it, which I really liked. Punk in his DVD talks about how pissed he was when he was passed over for Miz when headlining WM27. It sure felt like he was airing his grievances publicly a bit there.

The last bit with Ryback/Hell No getting revenge was decent, but I want to know what the endgame is now. I mean, for a satisfying story conclusion here, Ryback kind of has to win the title. Screwed out of 2 title shots, beat up repeatedly in unfair situations etc. Of course, he can't really win it, cause it screws up the RR planning, but if he loses (even mega dirty) then what? He is an unstoppable monster that just got 'stopped' 3 PPVs in a row. Meh.

Raw was awesome tonight. I fast forward everything that didn't involve Punk, Heyman, or Ambrose.

Shame they were stupid to put Ryback in the main event again, instead of just booking TMH/Ryback vs. Shield in a 6-man tables match at TLC, and have someone like Miz job out to Punk

Haven't watched Raw in a while. When did Miz turn face?

This was actually the most I've enjoyed Raw in a long time. I didn't watch it.

He got snubbed by the heel team at Survivor Series and got onto Team Foley instead.

Prior to Survivor Series he told Punk that he didn't want to be on Punk's team (ended up being Dolph's team) and later Miz joined Foley's face team after being voted in by the fans.

You should at least watch Sandow's segments too. This thing with him seeking an apprentice is hilarious.

Always wanted to see if Miz could be a good face but I guess they're just going with the same old corny role. I only watched the Ryback/Punk match from Survivor Series and The Shield segments from Raw lately. Now that work and uni have cooled down I'll probably start watching more. Dean Ambrose is the next big thing. He's going to have the Bryan effect where he'll just be too good for them not to push him.

Love Cena's shoulderblock getting no sold by Big Show but Sheamus uses Star Man's finisher from Pro Wrestling for NES and he portrays getting nearly decapitated.

Sandow is incredible.

Everything else ranged from bad to cringe worthy. Much worse than last weeks.

Emergency knee surgery for Punk, gg Punk's reign

Sigh.

Therein lies the downside of letting Ryback work with anyone ever.

He was working through a knee injury long before that happened. Not that that helped.

On the plus side, this shakes up some story lines in potentially interesting ways, and (assuming this is the usual 4-6 week type of scoping and not something major) means things could be really interesting when he comes back.

not a huge fan of Punk but i really hope the bolded is true.

If he can get back for 4 weeks, I expect him to not compete/take too many bumps before TLC and probably not wrestle a singles match until RR. No need to drop the belt for that.

If Punk can't face Rock at the RR, the best booking would be for him to somehow dump the belt to Lesnar and have Lesnar face the Rock. Though most likely it would just be Twice in a Lifetime: Rock/Cena.

-411