Ha, well , no Gene doesn't have to pick up those story beats. But it would be difficult to gloss over, no? There's a lot of prominent evidence concerning Shang and Spider-Man's time training together:
Slott referred back to it during his run on Amazing Spider-Man:
The training between Spider-Man and Shang is established. Me, I'm looking out for the little details that are a part of this relationship. Spider-Man has got to call Shang "sifu" or "shifu" when they meet. Bet there would be some witty barbs between Pete and Esme as well.