May 16, 2005 Observer Newsletter: Dusty Rhodes removed as TNA booker, Chris Kreski passes away

Just days before the Final Justice PPV, Dusty Rhodes was removed as booker from TNA.

Rhodes officially resigned on 5/10, when he showed up for a booking meeting in Nashville, saw Jeremy Borash, Bill Banks and Scott D’Amore there, and was told by Dixie Carter that they were going to book by committee from this point forward. According to sources close to Rhodes, they were told they were going to sit down and put together the PPV show on 5/15 and the subsequent TV tapings on 5/17. Rhodes said the decisions for both had already been done. Then they went to take about what to do about the NWA title situation. Rhodes said there was nothing to discuss, that A.J. Styles was going over for the championship at Final Justice. Carter said that they needed to debate the pros and cons of Styles as champion and rethink the decision. Rhodes supposedly said that he didn’t have any problem with a booking committee, but felt some of the people on the committee didn’t have enough product knowledge and shouldn’t be there, and wanted to be able to have a say in who was on it. Mike Tenay, who lives in Las Vegas and was not at the meeting, is also believed to be a key person on the new committee. Jeff Jarrett won’t be on the new committee, but he will have input, and Borash is closely aligned with him. It’s said that all major creative decisions will also have to be approved by an executive committee, which would likely be Dixie Carter and new TNA CEO Frank Dickerson.

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