There have been points where I was certain they were building this to an inevitable moment of triumph, and moments where I felt like they really saw him as a B player and had no interest in pulling the trigger on making him a legit champion.

IMO anyone who says they know whether this was or wasn't the plan all along is lying to themselves.

Further, the plan doesn't matter in the slightest if you ask me. What they've done to this point has been a masterful job of building anticipation. Even if it wasn't the plan, they've responded and reacted in potent ways.

I'd say bringing in Batista and CM Punk leaving suggest that this was never the plan, but an obvious audible that didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.

That said... who knows if they'll actually pull the trigger. They'll pretty much ruin the entire event if Bryan loses to Hunter and never makes the main event, but the jury is out on whether they'll allow him to win it all. There's also the possibility of them throwing out a massive fuck you to all of us and having him drop the belt on Raw the next night.