I said several times last year that Ring of Honor needed a change in creative direction. With Jim Cornette in charge the product had stagnated, failing to provide longstanding fans with the kind of action that had attracted them to ROH in the first place while simultaneously failing to provide a reason for any new viewers to tune in or attend an event. When Cornette was gone Hunter Johnston, better known as Delirious, was once again put in charge of booking duties.
Since being promoted to the writing team in August of 2010, replacing fellow wrestler Adam Pearce, Delirious has wrestled only two matches for Ring of Honor. The first was a feud-ending cage match with Austin Aries. The second was a tribute match opposite Colt Cabana in honour of Larry Sweeney.
Despite having a full time job overseeing the ROH product Delirious has continued to wrestle for other promotions. He also operates the ROH school. That’s three jobs right there. He’s a busy guy.
I’d like to see Delirious wrestle more often for ROH. I’m not advocating a full time return or regular appearances on TV. That’s the top of a slippery slope. See the Dusty Rhodes school of booking for just how bad that route could be.
There’s nothing to stop Delirious working the odd dark, opening or low card bout, though. He’s an entertaining guy who could inject some unpredictability into the product he’s tasked with booking. There are quite a few guys on the roster he’s not wrestled much before, some he’s not wrestled at all.
I understand the reasons for his reluctance to wrestle for ROH while in charge. It’s what I alluded to above: a conflict of interests that could see him accused of taking a spot that another guy deserves or putting himself over at the expense of others. In this light his lack of appearances is understandable.
I still think the positives outweigh the negatives, though. If he wrestled occasionally and wasn’t involved in any major (or even minor) plots then it would be hard for anyone to accuse him of stealing the spotlight. He’d be helping the product, and some of the younger wrestlers. Isn’t that what a booker’s supposed to do?