Hunter Johnston (born December 19, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Delirious, currently signed to Impact Wrestling. 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 Executive Producer of Ring of Honor Television, 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.
Career
Early career
Delirious started his career in Gateway Championship Wrestling, an independent wrestling promotion based out of St. Louis while also working at his local Best Buy. He trained Daizee Haze as a wrestler while they were both in Southeast Missouri State University. He made several appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2003 to 2005, his last in a match being a losing effort to Samoa Joe on TNA Impact!.
Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (2003–2006) Delirious started working for Ian Rotten and Independent Wrestling Association 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!.