Hunter Johnston (born December 19, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Delirious. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as an executive producer/head booker. He is known for his outrageous antics, such as running around aimlessly and screaming wildly when the opening ring bell sounds, and speaking in a rambling and mostly incoherent fashion. Delirious has competed internationally in Japan, Mexico, Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. He is a former head booker of Ring of Honor and was an executive producer of the company's flagship television program, producing and writing over 500 episodes of weekly television along with producing and writing hundreds of live events in the 2010s. He also started as the head trainer for the company's wrestling school, the ROH Dojo in 2007.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2001–2003) Delirious started his career in Gateway Championship Wrestling, an independent wrestling promotion based out of St. Louis, Missouri while also working at his local Best Buy. He trained Daizee Haze as a wrestler while they were both in Southeast Missouri State University.
IWA Mid-South (2003–2006) Delirious started working for Ian Rotten and IWA Mid-South during the latter part of 2003. In November, he wrestled Matt Sydal, a fellow St. Louis wrestler, in Sydal's first IWA match. The two quickly developed a rivalry, wrestling several times over the next few months. Eventually, Delirious was able to beat Sydal at the second night of the 2004 King of the Death Match Tournament and won the IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Championship.
After that, Delirious began a feud with Jimmy Jacobs. The two exchanged in several matches with the title trading hands. Jimmy won the belt in early August on a Coliseum Championship Wrestling event in Evansville, Indiana. Two weeks later in Highland, Indiana, they wrestled to a double pin for the title. The belt was declared vacant. On the first night of the 2004 Ted Petty Invitational weekend, Jacobs won a Ladder match to win the vacant title. After that, Delirious went to Japan for a tour. When he returned, he won the belt on December 12. Delirious then finished the feud with a win in a Steel Cage match in Valparaiso, Indiana, on February 4, 2005.
Delirious held the Light Heavyweight title until June 11, when he lost it to Josh Abercrombie in Philadelphia. Delirious then wrestled several matches over the fall, against the likes of Roderick Strong, Ace Steel, and Brandon Thomaselli. He also formed a team with old rival Sydal. They challenged The Iron Saints for the IWA-MS Tag Team Championships on a couple of occasions, but could not win the belts.
Delirious started to appear less in 2006, but he defeated fellow masked wrestler El Generico in April.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003–2005)
Delirious made his debut on TNA (while TNA was associated with NWA) on the February 22, 2003, episode of TNA Xplosion losing to Shark Boy in a singles match. On the September 24 episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious and Curt Daniels lost to Abyss in a Handicap match. On the October 8 episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious and Sebastian lost to The Gathering (CM Punk and Julio Dinero). On the December 3 episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious lost to Shark Boy. On the January 14, 2004, episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious, Dylan Kage and Vordell Walker lost to 3Live Kru. On the January 21 episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious, Jared Steele and Masada lost to 3Live Kru. On the February 4 episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious and Shadow lost to America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm). On the July 14 episode of TNA Xplosion, Delirious and Sebastian lost to D-Ray 3000 and Shark Boy. On September 8. 2004, NWATNA, Delirious and Jerrelle Clark competed in a Six Way X-Division Dominance Tag Team Elimination Battle Royal which was won by Kazarian and Mikey Batts. At Slammiversary, Delirious competed in a X Division Six-way match which was won by Shark Boy. His last match in the promotion was in a losing effort to Samoa Joe on the June 24, 2005, episode of iMPACT!.
Ring of Honor (2004–2022) Delirious debuted in the Philadelphia-based promotion Ring of Honor at Reborn: Stage One on April 23, 2004, in a losing effort against rival Matt Sydal.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, April 23, 2004 Delirious continued to work for Ring of Honor sporadically throughout the next few years, gaining a cult following despite never winning a match. At Better Than Our Best on April 1, 2006, ROH's commissioner Jim Cornette said that he would face a wrestler of his choosing and if he did not win, he would be dropped from the roster. Delirious chose and defeated Ricky Reyes with the Cobra Stretch, retaining his spot on the roster.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, April 1, 2006
The following show, Delirious defeated Jimmy Rave, Jimmy Yang and Jimmy Jacobs in a Four Corner Survival.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results April 22, 2006 Later in the show, Bryan Danielson granted Delirious a shot at the ROH World Championship after Danielson had retained it in five minutes against Colt Cabana. Danielson retained the belt when the referee stopped the match; Delirious' hand was also sliced on the ring post and his mask was torn by Danielson during the match.
Delirious would get a second shot at the ROH World Championship in a losing effort against Bryan Danielson on May 13. Delirious went on to earn a shot at the ROH Pure Championship against Nigel McGuinness, but subsequently lost. Throughout the rest of the year, Delirious continued to impress with matches against Matt Sydal and McGuinness. On October 6, Delirious defeated Jimmy Rave, qualifying for the 2006 Survival of the Fittest final later on in the evening. Austin Aries was the first eliminated in the finals leaving The Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark), Delirious and Matt Sydal. Sydal and Delirious worked together to eliminate the Briscoes. They put on a tough performance, with Delirious eventually coming out on top.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, October 6, 2006
His victory meant he'd receive his third shot at the ROH World Championship against Bryan Danielson. On November 3 the match took place, and once again Danielson retained despite Delirious' best efforts.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, November 3, 2006
Delirious then teamed with Davey Richards, challenging eventual Tag Team Champions Matt Sydal and Christopher Daniels in a Number One Contenders match.
Following his loss, Sydal and Daniels went on to feud with Adam Pearce. Pearce defeated Delirious earlier on in the year with help from Shane Hagadorn. His first match in this new feud saw Delirious team with Ace Steel to take on Hagadorn and Pearce, Delirious and Steel came out on top, but this feud was far from over. The following night, Delirious put his problems with Pearce aside to challenge Danielson. The two captains put a team of four together for an eight-man elimination tag match. Delirious chose Nigel McGuinness, Colt Cabana and B. J. Whitmer as his partners to face the team of Danielson, Jimmy Rave, Jimmy Jacobs and Shingo. Delirious was the sole survivor for his team, winning the match when he made Danielson tap to the Cobra Stretch.
Delirious lost to Adam Pearce on December 22,Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, December 22, 2006 as well as losing the following night in a Dragon Gate rules match against CIMA, Shingo and Matt Sydal.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, December 23, 2006 Delirious continued his feud with Pearce into 2007, defeating him in the first of six Fifth Year Festival events. He won via pinfall after placing brass knuckles in his mask and headbutting Pearce.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, February 16, 2007 The following night, the newly turned heel Roderick Strong destroyed Delirious after shoving him off the ropes. Delirious' head smacked against the mat and he appeared to be unconscious. Strong took advantage of Delirious' condition, hitting him with a Gibson Driver both in the ring and on a barricade at ringside. Strong looked to do more damage but Roderick's former tag team partner Austin Aries ran him off.Online World of Wrestling – ROH results, February 17, 2007
On August 3, 2007, Delirious was announced as the new head trainer of the ROH Wrestling Academy.ROH Wrestling
Delirious became more peculiar during his feud with Adam Pearce's stable, The Hangmen 3. After they stapled his mask to his face back in 2007, he began using violent tactics to defeat them such as using weapons and spitting mist into their faces. He also changed his usual green and black attire to "Red Poison", a red and black version, at Rising Above on December 29, 2007, to reflect his newly violent tactics.
Delirious later attempted to gain the attention of Daizee Haze only to be interrupted and overshadowed by Rhett Titus. After seeing footage of Titus and Haze together, he turned heel and joined up with Jimmy Jacobs and his Age of the Fall stable and began wearing a black version of his attire. On March 13 in Collinsville, Illinois, after Jacobs hit Haze with his spike, Delirious turned on him and broke away from the Age of the Fall. Delirious then started a feud with Sonjay Dutt, which ended rather quickly. Delirious later feuded with Austin Aries, starting on the May 3, 2010, edition of Ring of Honor Wrestling, when Aries kicked Delirious in the throat mid-match, causing a disqualification, followed by a beat down of both Delirious and his valet, Daizee Haze by Aries, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus. He teamed with Jerry Lynn to feud with them.
On August 15, 2010, Johnston replaced Adam Pearce as the head booker of Ring of Honor. Since this change, Delirious has wrestled only sporadically for the promotion, when he ended his feud with Aries by defeating him in a steel cage match on the September 20 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling. Delirious made his return to a Ring of Honor ring on May 7 in Toronto, when he wrestled Colt Cabana in a Larry Sweeney tribute match.
In 2014, he began to increase his appearances in Ring of Honor more, mainly in their Illinois-based shows. On May 19, 2018, he became one of the trainers at the Baltimore Dojo.
International Wrestling Cartel (2005–2009) Delirious and Matt Sydal debuted at No Excuses 2005 against each other with Delirious picking up the victory with the Chemical Imbalance II. He won IWC's biggest event of the year, the Super Indy 5 tournament, when he defeated Glen Spectre in the first round, Matt Sydal in the second and "Balls Hott" Troy Lords in the finals. He then went on to successfully defend his Super Indy title against Lords by making him tap out to a leglock submission at Summer Sizzler 3.