The Turtles battle with Shredder holds many images from their first encounter with him in the original Mirage TMNT comic.
Pigeon Pete is named after Michelangelo's pigeon friend from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode What's Michelangelo Good For? (1990) where he was just a pet pigeon, while here he is an actual mutant.
The "Wolf Hotel" was named after Fred Wolf of "Fred Wolf Films", which produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).
This episode was originally titled "Enter Shredder" which is close to the title from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) cartoon's second episode Enter: The Shredder (1987).
The Shredder's dog Hachiko is named after a famous Japanese dog known for his remarkable loyalty to his owner.