ROH Delirious: Masked Insanity (FSM 87; Nov 12)

Information: - DVD Region: All Regions - Distributor: Ring of Honor - Price: $19.99 - Other info: 348 mins - Release: Out now - Weblink: www.ROHWrestling.com

When your author first met Hunter Johnson - aka Delirious - in 2006, it was an intriguing opportunity. As a character who always did his "talking" in the ring, little has changed over the years in regard to his speech and his overall presentation. However, as this set reveals, that needn't be a bad thing.

The programme opens with a largely incomprehensible conversation that perfectly sets the tone for this bizarre compilation. Throughout the duration, he pops up to add varying degrees of such "insight".

Disc One contains a wide berth of ROH material from 2004-2006. With CM Punk on commentary alongside Chris Lovey for the first bout (Lovey is actually ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky), there's a sense of familiarity as Delirious faces Matt Sydal. The two became frequent opponents throughout their tenures, thus there couldn't be a more appropriate way to begin this retrospective.

A four-way between Delirious, Jack Evans, Samoa Joe and Ebessan is as mad-cap as one might imagine. Incorporating slow-motion strikes with Evans' flexibility and Joe's cutting edge makes for a deliciously entertaining concoction.

The comedy is less dominant in a brace of tag encounters, one pairing Delirious with Alex Shelley, and the other pitting them against one another. The bout opposite Roderick Strong and Jack Evans is outstanding, and both scraps also play off on the almost repulsive ability of Evans to contort into horrendous positions during submission attempts.

Proving his versatility, Delirious delves into more serious territory in bouts with Nigel McGuinness and Ricky Reyes - the latter in a remarkably enjoyable moment from Better Than Our Best. In 2006, Delirious competed believably for the ROH World title, which is recalled here in two bouts with Bryan Danielson. The first occurred in front of a CZW crowd at the height of that great inter-promotional feud. Danielson and Delirious exhibit great storytelling in a key moment of the latter's character development. The re-match is almost as thrilling.

A bout with Chris Sabin is then efficient, and the disc ends in splendid fashion in an epic with Sydal that is better than the crowd reaction suggests.

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An uproarious eight-man tag is a delightful intro to a more feud-heavy Disc Two, but the sense of fun is initially maintained with a great six-man effort from Final Battle 2006. A tussle with KENTA is unsurprisingly superb, before the programme spirals into the darker period of Delirious' ROH career.

Adam Pearce was the instigator of the shift, and he appears in a wild Falls Count Anywhere showdown. Following this, and a rejection by Daizee Haze, a more sinister Delirious would find himself in The Age of The Fall, under the leadership of Jimmy Jacobs. A fine tag scrap is featured as they battle Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn. Their eventual split is documented following this clash, and in the shape of a brutal Markham Streetfight.

It would have been nice, though, to have explored the period in which Delirious was under the control of Jacobs a little further. There are also omissions, as the feud-ender with Jacobs, and Delirious' relationship with Daizee Haze, are kept to a minimum here, when they actually produced numerous memorable moments. The set concludes with a decent match against Roderick Strong, and an excellent cage match opposite Austin Aries.

This two-disc release could potentially be dismissed in comparison to the other, more high-profile entries in ROH's stellar series of compilations, but wrestling fans would be doing themselves a disservice in skipping this effort.

Bursting with variety, this is a wonderful overview of one of ROH's most enduring and certainly, underrated characters.