A Star is Born!

Seeking to capitalize on his newfound spider powers, Peter Parker has taken up Monty Caabash’s offer to join the Extreme Wrestling Organization. Wearing an improvised spider-themed mask he goes into the ring again with Crusher Hogan. However, when Crusher is about to do his signature “Crusher Crush” technique, Peter isn’t convinced that it won’t hurt him because his spider-sense is buzzing like crazy. Using his agility, Peter easily overpowers Crusher.[1]

Watching the fight, Monty Caabash is certain that Parker can be a star but he has to work his way up from the bottom. Peter accepts this but says he’ll only join the EWO as long as Monty agrees to a number of conditions he wrote down. Peter asks that he never remove his mask under any circumstance and that his identity is to remain secret and nobody can ask for his real name. He also insists on being paid in cash only. Lastly, he insists on being called Spider-Man and that is the most important thing he won’t budge on. He insists on being called Spider-Man because if he goes by Spider-Boy or Spider-Lad, he’ll still be called by that name when he’s in his forties. Monty relents but tells the newly named Spider-Man that he needs to come and work out in the gym every day and also recommends an outfit that looks better than something someone would wear when holding up a hotdog stand. To resolve this wardrobe issue, Monty Caabash takes Spider-Man to meet with Tiffany Lebeck, who designs costumes for the other wrestlers. Peter is instantly smitten by the older woman and quickly takes Peter under her wing. She tells him that she is going to design a full-body costume and gives him advice about how to deal with the other wrestlers or Monty. She even lets him in on a secret, telling Peter that Monty needs him more than he needs Monty and then tells him what everyone has — Spider-Man has what it takes to become a star.

Tiffany Lebeck talks him up all night and Peter eventually ends up staying out later than he planned. He sneaks back into the house noticing that Uncle Ben and Aunt May have fallen asleep in front of the television waiting for him to get home. Peter considers waking them up and telling them what happened, but decides against it, figuring they’re not his parents and is more concerned that they will judge him. Awoken by the noise, Uncle Ben goes up to Peter’s room to check on him. Peter, not wanting to talk about the evening, Peter pretends to be asleep. The next day at school, Peter is still tired and falls asleep in science class. This is noticed by Liz Allan, who jokes that it’s hard to copy off Peter when he sleeps in class. That’s when she notices he is bleeding and asks if he is okay. Peter is too surprised that Liz is actually talking to him and then passes out. When he wakes up in the hospital, both Aunt May and Uncle Ben are there. Ben tells Peter that the stitches opened. There are troubled to hear about the stitches and the fact that the doctor noticed bruises all over his body. They are concerned with Peter’s strange behavior recently and ask if there is anything wrong. Their concern for him upsets Peter who tells them to back off, saying he spent half his life getting bullied at school and now they’re just noticing injuries he got because of the minor car accident he got in the night before. He then tells them to leave him alone since the doctors said he needed rest. Two nights later, Peter sneaks out of the hospital so he can compete in the next EWO match. By this time, Tiffany Lebeck has completed Peter’s new Spider-Man costume. His manager is pleased to see him, fearing that Spider-Man going to be a no show.[2]

Thus starts Spider-Man’s wrestling career and with each victory, Spider-Man generates more and more publicity for the EWO. Unknown to everyone, Monty Caabash is in deep with a mobster named Mister Angel, who demands that Monty start paying his debts. Monty however, asks for more time, certain that his newest wrestler is going to be a huge moneymaker. It also appears that a romance between Spider-Man and Tiffany Lebeck is starting to bloom. One night, he carries her up to the top of the Empire State Building to look at the city, a feat that impresses her. When she tries to take off his mask to kiss him, Peter stops her, as he is not ready to show her who he really is. Tiffany warns Spider-Man that he needs to keep pushing the boundaries but sooner or later they can’t have secrets kept between the two of them. With his first television appearance, Peter is nervous, but Tiffany assures him that he’ll blow audiences away. Hearing back to Queens by foot, Peter discovers that this is difficult even with his powers and starts thinking of how he can get around faster. Later that evening, Peter breaks into his school so he can use the facilities there to develop his webbing and mechanical web-shooters.

The following night, Spider-Man fights the Bronx Mangler in the ring at Madison Square Gardens where he showcases his web-shooters and a redesigned costume in the ring for the first time. Going against the script, Spider-Man humiliates the Mangler, leaving him pinned to the mat in webbing. Deciding that he has been giving his Aunt and Uncle a hard time recently, Peter returns home and apologizes for the way he’s been acting, making up phony reasons why he has been acting strangely, figuring they wouldn’t understand the sudden celebrity status of his alter-ego. At school, he is surprised when Liz Allan sits with him at lunch and talks to him for forty minutes. He figures that while life isn’t great by a longshot, but it’s getting better and he figures things can only get better from here.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Monty Caabash, Tiffany Lebeck, Liz Allan, Crusher Hogan, Bronx Mangler, Flash Thompson

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place during the events of Amazing Fantasy #15 when Peter was using his powers in show business.

2. This contradicts various tellings of Spider-Man’s origin story that all state that Peter designed his own costume. One could assume that Peter created the designed version that’s seen in this issue and that it was inspired by the original design by Tiffany Lebeck.