Oh darnit, had written some long response and my internet connection screwed me over. Here goes another try:
I think everyone is happy to see HHH back, but it's still not clear what direction they're taking. A stable (like you suggest) would be the right thing to do, and it looks like they would be heel-ish (that's probably why Nash wasn't brought back as Diesel) because if not what's the point on treating Punk as a face recently. The anti-system persona of Punk should go well in a feud against an all powerful dark HHH (I'd love see that!) and friends.
Punk's been one of my favorites for a while, he's definately top talent. He can easily cross the line between face and heel any time, I'd be more than happy for him to stay somewhere in between (a la Edge, Jericho... big names indeed, he can pull it off). Meanwhile I've never been a fan of Cena, but I understand his value to the company. I would've loved to have the nexus storyline turn cena dark in some point, but it sucked big time, he can't pull anything else than what he already has going.
The bit about the Raw GM just pisses me off. Poor creative writing, what? Did they just forget about it? Give it a good burial. There's plenty of storyline twists they could've done to finish it off. WWE should be ashamed, they are treating us like dumbasses thinking we just forget about the things they stop showing (storylines, characters, etc.).
I think they're stepping on their toes with Orton. At this pace you'll have him with 20 world championships in a few years (Cena too). Roll the ball, let others play. Smackdown's roster is weaker right now, but you still have young guys waiting for the definitive push (Barrett for example), and of course Sheamus, he's gold. I understand why hardworking guys like Daniel Bryan are put into the championship picture, but I don't particuarly agree with it. Come on, I hope they don't keep the idea of having Bryan main event wrestlemania. On Henry, I really like his destruction persona much better than his friendly character; I've seen it before and it really works, but not championship material either IMO.
Finally on Del Rio, I agree with you, but in the sense that the push was too deliberate. He was a big name signing from Mexico, so they couldn't keep him on FCW or put him on a lower card. He's getting his current run because WWE is going to Mexico soon. I wish he dropped some of his character boundaries, I'd love to see him really fight, instead of having Ricardo interfere and finish off with the cross arm breaker. I'm sure he can do a lot more than that...