Even Saints running back Jamaal Williams believes in Joe Hendry

How do you know a professional wrestler has truly gotten over in the cultural zeitgeist? Is it how many titles they've won? Or how much TV time they get weekly? How many Pay-Per-Views they headline in a calendar year?

Well, when New Orleans Saints running back Jamaal Williams is singing to the team's official social media account that “I believe in Joe Hendry,” it's safe to say the former TNA Digital Media Champion is currently having a moment that has expanded well past the IWC.

Reporting to training camp alongside his fellow rusher, James Robinson, Williams marched right up to the camera and passed along a message he wanted every one of the Saints' 1.1 million followers to know.

“I believe! Hey, you wanna hear my new thing I found out? It's just in my head, can I say it?” Williams asked. “Say his name, and he appears; I believe in Joe Hendry! Hopefully it goes on everybody's algorithm now.”

Now granted, Williams isn't your usual NFL player; he loves anime, wears Pokemon hats to press conferences, and has earned an incredible collection of left-field fans as a result. Still, if even NFL players are down with the formerly fringe TNA wrestler, it's safe to say NXT is right to be pushing him so hard right now and for WWE to potentially make him a focal point of their product heading into the future. Why? Because the people believe, and WWE should too.

Nic Nemeth believes Joe Hendry went over at TNA Slammiversary

While Joe Hendry is currently having a moment in NXT, his run in TNA hasn't nearly featured the same level of effectiveness, with the promotion opting to give the TNA World Championship to Nic Nemeth over the “Prestigious One” at their biggest show of the year, Slammiversary.

Did TNA make the wrong choice? Objectively speaking, yeah, probably so, but in the opinion of Nemeth on Busted Open Radio, who knows a thing or two about WWE from his 19 years in the promotion as Dolph Ziggler, Hendry still went over on the show, as he was able to put in some work in the six-man main event.

“I think it could have been his night. With that comes certain things behind the scenes and all over the company that we would make sure that he was seen in the best possible light. For the most part, I feel that would be more of a shock factor and get a few more views on YouTube at the moment. I don't know that's the exact play. Maybe it was. In this case, someone that takes out the three-year undefeated Moose, has one of the best showings of all six fighters in the match, comes out with people dressed as him in the crowd. Has it been like this for six months or a year? It's been a few months. It could be the right time, sure, but it also could be the right time to have him in there with Josh Alexander or myself getting that much better, that much more compared, not just on the microphone or an awesome wrestler, but to be ready to be the absolute best top of the top. You don't have that sometimes with somebody who is just getting the momentum. ‘Is it ten out of ten here? Nine out of ten here?' I will make him the best so that when we pull the trigger 100%, this is one of the greatest moments in the world. That's how I'm choosing to see it. I'm not in those meetings; I don't know the deal,” Nic Nemeth explained on Busted Open Radio via Fightful.

“We could have went that way. There is something special about him, and I love that so many fans are excited for him and, even on the plane. I got to check a few things. I a lot of ‘congratulations' and ‘awesome match.' A lot of people going, ‘Joe Hendry got buried.' The last thing you could ever say about anyone in that match was someone got buried. What an amazing moment. We set up a bunch of stories for a bunch of people. Joe Hendry is coming for the world title. Maybe he's the rightful champ. So many great things happened, and Joe really got featured in a very positive way where we're going with this guy long-term. Just in case he happens to be at NXT more and doing other things, we need somebody full-time at the top of the TNA list. I want to be that guy, and I'm happy to be that guy.”

For fans who didn't watch Slammiversary, how Hendry looked is sort of irrelevant, as showing up next week on NXT with the TNA World Championship around his belt would have been a far more impressive image than any analysis of his in-ring efforts. Still, maybe the NXT-TNA brain trust has something bigger planned for the “Prestigious One” that would have been limited had he won the belt, like going for the NXT Championship currently held by fellow former Impact Zone alumni Ethan Page? All things considered, this booking decision can't be fully graded until everything fully shakes out.