Nick Kiniski, the son of wrestling World Champion Gene Kiniski, has claimed he was propositioned by Terry Garvin during his days competing for the WWF.
The younger Kiniski competed for the World Wrestling Federation from 1986 to 1987. Outside of the promotion, he also wrestled for WCCW and the AWA. His sole championship accomplishment came in Texas All-Star Wrestling where he held the Tag Team Titles with Paul Diamond.
During an episode of Pollock and Thurston, Kiniski claimed he was forced to deal with unwanted advances from Terry Garvin, who was a WWF employee at the time.
"He would come up to me and hit on me … I won’t say what he said, but you’ll understand the meaning behind it. He says ‘Hey Nick, let me perform oral sex on you, you can read a Playboy and you’ll have it made for life.’ And, you know, he is my boss, he controls my boss. This is my livelihood, what I want to do,
"I kind of joked with him, I said ‘Hey Terry, you know, I’m not that way. But if I ever change, you’ll be the first. I’ll let you be the first.’ We just kinda laughed it off. But he was always kind of coming up and joking, and one time he came to my hotel room late at night and I told him to leave. Knocked at the door. So, it put me in a very awkward position, you know?"
Kiniski stated that he informed Vince McMahon of the situation while the WWF was hosting events in Oregon.
"I said ‘Hey, Vince, I don’t think this is right. Terry’s hitting on me. I don’t appreciate that and I would like it to stop.’ And Vince said ‘Oh, ok. I’ll deal with it.’ And that was it."
Kiniski stated that nothing changed and that Garvin would continue to pester him about his "proposition." Shortly after, Kiniski would be pulled from matches, meaning he wasn't earning. Believing this was in response to not giving into Garvin, Kiniski challenged McMahon on the matter.
"I said ‘This isn’t right, Vince. I complain, and now you guys are punishing me. I’ll finish my bookings, but I’m not putting any guys over. Put me in the ring we’ll see what happens... I’m done.’ I said, ‘I’ll finish my matches,’ ‘Nope, you’re done now.’ ‘Thank you very much.’"
Nick Kiniski is not the first man to allege that Garvin was inappropriate. Barry Orton, the brother of Bob Orton Jr. and uncle to Randy Orton, accused Garvin of sexually assaulting him in 1978. Orton would later say he was blackballed by the industry for speaking out about it.
Gargin resigned from the WWF in 1992 alongside ring announcer Mel Phillips and Pat Patterson in the wake of the Ring Boy Scandal. The scandal revolved around the alleged sexual harassment of an underage ring boy, who was fired after refusing Garvin's advances. Garvin died of stomach cancer on August 18, 1998, at the age of 61.