Mick Foley has to make some changes to his Survivor Series team, CM Punk finds himself between a rock and a hard place, and the King returns in this week’s Sleeper Hold!

Main Plot Overview:

Long time no talk recap folks. Sorry for the delay, but it’s been a crazy time here at EGM with the insane rush of games coming in for the holidays. Things are settling down a bit now though and so I was able to relax and watch a little Monday Night RAW.

And boy, did a lot happen on RAW last night. Ryback got his revenge on the rogue referee that cost him the title at Hell in a Cell and decimated the poor fool. AJ Lee confronted Vickie Guerrero once again about her supposed affair with John Cena. And leading up the triple-threat Survivor Series main event where John Cena, CM Punk, and Ryback will face off for the WWE Championship, last night’s main event put Cena and Punk against each other in a singles non-title match that saw both men give it their all. At least until Punk tried to run away and then met Ryback, who was still very hungry after his short match with the rogue ref, halfway up the ramp. As Punk began to backtrack away from Ryback, he attempted to escape into the crowd, However, Cena caught him and brought Punk back into the ring to get the win before Cena and Punk then both grabbed the WWE title in a moment dripping with tension and obvious symbolism.

I don’t know who is going to win the WWE Title on Sunday, but I’d love for it to be Punk one more time to cap off his full year as the champ and move into sole possession of the 8th longest title reign in history. I’d also like to see what Ryback would do as champ and maybe even set him up to take on some other unstoppable monsters like The Big Show or Kane down the line. Basically, as long as it’s not John Cena because he’s actually been developing well over the past few months into someone I can at least stand and I think giving him the title now would unravel this all again.

Match of the Night:

There has been a heavy focus in recent months on the tag team division. And to help show off this resurgence, the first 8-man tag match I can remember seeing in quite some time took place as the teams of Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara and Justin Gabriel/Tyson Kidd took on the Primetime Players and Primo/Epico, showing off all four teams’ interesting styles of offense in the match.

The match started off at a normal pace with the heels in control, but once a couple of hot tags were made by the faces, business picked up. With as many high fliers as there were in the ring, it was no surprise to see guys like Sin Cara leap off the top turnbuckle to the outside or for Tyson Kidd to hit a hurricanrana when they got their chance, but the moves all seemed to happen one right after another and so the match had the fastest pacing I’ve seen in some time, especially from Rey Mysterio who many thought might have lost a step, once everyone got into a rhythm. The big highlight of the match, however, was back-to-back finishers with Mysterio’s 619 and Gabriel’s 450 splash on Darren Young to end the bout. All things considered, the quick pace, tight maneuvers, and over-the-top finish made this an easy choice for Match of the Night.

Promo of the Night:

In an outpouring of emotion from everyone in ring and from the WWE Universe, it was great when Jerry “The King” Lawler came down the ramp in hour two to take his headset back from Good Ol’ JR (Although it was great hearing JR again for these past nine weeks. I really wish Michael Cole would go away).

To hear Jerry talk about how his experience was like It’s a Wonderful Life and how much he appreciated the outpouring of love from everyone in the locker room and the WWE Universe was a special moment and I for one am thrilled King pulled through. Of course, the whole moment would go sour when CM Punk would crash the party and Paul Heyman would fake his own heart attack right in the middle of the ring.

But this special promo wasn’t done for then Mick Foley came shambling down to the ring to belittle Punk about how special it was that Jerry was okay. How it was a damn miracle he was there and that for a short period of time he was dead. It was the most emotional I had ever seen Mick Foley and I think even Punk was a little stunned, but he kept his cool and turned it back on Mick as he always does. As a whole though, this was easily the best moment of the night on RAW.

Shocker of the Night:

With the main event at Survivor Series changed to a triple threat match between Punk, Cena, and Ryback, Mick Foley had a gap in his Survivor Series team that needed to be filled. Leaving it up the WWE Universe, Santino Marella, Zack Ryder, and late ballot entry The Miz, who defected from Team Ziggler, the Universe decided shockingly for The Miz by a landslide. Miz admitted that he didn’t like Mick and Mick admitted he didn’t like Miz, but they both hated Ziggler more.

It also led to an interesting storyline developing with the Miz being forced to partner with Kane later that night in a tag match against Rhodes Scholars and Daniel Bryan becoming jealous. Where that may lead, I don’t know, but the whole scheme stinks of turning the Miz into a face with him teaming up with other faces for Survivor Series.

Cheap Pop of the Night:

The emotional rant of Mick Foley about how it was a miracle Jerry Lawler was there in Columbus was not a moment that I felt was cheap in any way. But it needs to be said that it would be a Foley moment if he didn’t shout out the location of RAW at least once an evening and before Mick started preaching to Punk, he couldn’t help but mention last night’s venue in Columbus, Ohio. Mick is nothing if not consistent and we love him for it, but he also gets the Cheap Pop of the Night.