Am I raising a WWE superstar?

Body slams and flashy finishers. Gaudy championship belts and full-out brawls. The rivalry. The chaos.

It's almost too much for a rambunctious 8-year-old boy to take. How could he not want to be a part of this world?

The world of World Wresting Entertainment.

I never wanted my son Nolan to have anything to do with what seemed a foreign land of fake sports entertainment. I wanted nothing to do with Big Show, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Triple H, Roman Reigns or Edge.

But on an innocent trip to a discount store toy aisle, Nolan spotted a John Cena figure lying upside down on the floor in a beaten up cardboard package.

He was 4. He had no idea who the guy even was. But the plastic figure had rippling muscles. He looked tough. His shirt said "Never Give Up."

Nolan insisted on getting him. And he never turned back.

Four years later — and about 100 more wrestling figures, countless WWE costumes, a full-sized trampoline made into a ring for rumbles with friends and endless matches set up on the kitchen floor — he hasn't waned.

I begged for Thomas the Tank Engine. Hot Wheels. Even Real Steel robots. I signed him up for baseball and basketball.

None of it was happening. Nolan wants to be a WWE superstar when he grows up.

"I will be a legend," he repeats daily. "Like Hulk Hogan."

But first? First, Nolan must learn how to wrestle.

***

We walked up the stairs to the Mt. Vernon High School (Fortville) wrestling room Monday night. It was quiet and dim — far from shiny lights, rowdy crowds and blaring music — but it was his first wrestling practice.

And this, Nolan said, was a step to WWE glory.

"I wonder what kind of slams they'll let me do to people," he asked.

I tried to warn him. No slams. This wrestling was the folkstyle variety — and nothing like WWE. I thought perhaps a taste of real wrestling would curb his enthusiasm for WWE.

It looked like things were headed that way the first few minutes of practice. Warmups with stretching and pushups. The stuff that typically bores him.

Next came learning the proper stances. Learning how to keep your body low and slide your feet.

And then ... it happened, just 15 minutes into the first wrestling practice. The coaches taught the boys the double-leg takedown.

"Get low. Grab both their legs and take them down," the coach told the boys. And next — the single-leg takedown. Same thing. One leg yanked.

This was starting to look very WWE-ish. Nolan was beaming.

Clearly, I didn't know enough about high school wrestling going in. Take away the chairs and the ladders and the jumping over the ring, and this sport is kind of like what John Cena does.

"You can't like punch or hit. It's a lot more technical," said Peyton Wuerch, a junior wrestler at Mt. Vernon, who had just finished his practice and stuck around for the little guys. "But you're dominating someone else. You can slam."

It must be controlled, but "you can grab someone, pick them up and throw them," he said.

Nolan liked that. The other young aspiring wrestlers liked that, too. Some of them told me they had received their first glimpse of wrestling from a WWE character and they wanted to try the sport out.

Say what you will about the WWE. But it's helping plant the seed for real wrestling, and that's a good thing. A needed thing.

***

Teenage boys aren't clamoring to wrestle in high school. Some are. But most aren't.

High school wrestling is one of those sports athletes often don't have to try out for. It's not like making a coveted spot on the basketball team. Coaches solicit teens to come give it a try.

Wrestling ranks  sixth of all boys' sports when it comes to participation at the high school level, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

Over the years, the number of athletes taking part in the sport has dwindled. About 40 years ago, in 1976, there were more high school wrestlers nationwide, 355,160, than there were in 2014, 269,514. That's a 25 percent drop in participation.

In Indiana, participation in wrestling has followed the national trend. Bobby Cox, commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, has bemoaned the lack of attendance and fan interest in the sport as a cause for athletes turning away. Perhaps it's not as exciting as the stuff they see on "Monday Night Raw."

Drake Tackett scoffs at that. He comes from a family of wrestlers. The junior at Mt. Vernon said it's just part of their lives, so he has been wrestling for years. The sport is amazing, he says.

When asked if high school wrestling can be compared to WWE, he laughs.

"It's nothing like it," he says. "We don't have folding chairs and ladders."

But does it get boys interested in the sport?

"Yeah. It does," he says. "Definitely."

***

I look over at Nolan. His chest is puffed out. He's feeling strong. He's taking opponents down on the mat. And he's being taken down on the mat.

His first wrestling practice is almost done. He comes bounding over for a final drink of water.

"This reminds me of NXT," he says. "That's where WWE superstars get their start."

What? Google search.

"WWE NXT is the professional wrestling developmental branch for WWE, based in Winter Park, Fla. It was founded by Triple H in 2012," my iPhone reveals.

I guess this is kind of like NXT, I tell Nolan.

"I'm going to keep doing this every year and every year," he says as we walk out into the dark parking lot of the high school, "and I'm going to become a legend."

Whether that's a legend of WWE or a high school wrestling legend or just a mediocre middle school wrestler remains to be seen. Really they aren't all that different.

They all start with a little boy and a dream. And that's a good thing.

Follow Star reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.