In 1988, Peterson developed the character Max Pain (short for "Maximum Pain"), a sinister, grungy, Jimi Hendrix-loving heavy metal guitarist. His original idea was Lucifer Payne, but he felt that this was too foreboding. He used the name Max Payne, hailing from Hell's Kitchen, New York nationally in the United States as well as in Europe and Japan. Following a short stint with the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), Pain debuted in the Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). He quickly began pursuing the CWA Heavyweight Championship, and on February 8, 1988 in Memphis he defeated Jerry Lawler to win the championship. He then went after Lawler's AWA World Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. He forfeited the CWA Championship to Brickhouse Brown on May 23, but won the title once more on June 27. His second reign ended on July 10 when he was defeated by Phil Hickerson.
