Nikki Finke duped? Wonders never cease.

No one ever said Nikki Finke was smart. Annoying? Certainly. Dogged? Absolutely. Smart? Not so much. Leave it up to Darling Nikki to get duped by two of the great thespians of our era -- Donald Trump and Vince McMahon -- and then get indignant about she did in her posting "WHAT A RAW DEAL! Investors And Media Get Punk'd By WWE & USA Network." Now for a little history.

The other night, professional goofball/WWE chairman Vince McMahon announced the "sale" of his program Monday Night Raw to Donald Trump. As you'll see in the video below, this "sale" offered all the theatrics of a typical WWE event -- 15,000 booing fans, "Entrance" music for Donald Trump and acting that makes Lee Strasberg roll over in his grave. But somehow Nikki got confused into thinking it was real.

Nikki came to her own defense by saying "the release sure looked real." Yes Nikki, there was a press release. There was also a press release and a full page ad when Taco Bell "bought" the Liberty Bell back in 1996. But (now follow me here, as clearly not all of your synapses are firing) Taco Bell doesn't really own the Liberty Bell. It was what some people call "a publicity stunt." Rube.

Of course there are about 50 other reasons why any business reporter worth a shit would know this whole episode was just typical WWE drama. While I won't go into them because they are dull, I'd like to recommend Nikki do a little homework on 8-Ks, 10-Qs and material disclosure before covering other stories like this.

The lesson here is think twice before believing everything hear from an organization that boasts talent with names like "The Big Show," "Rey Mysterio" and "Hornswoggle." Until then Nikki, perhaps you should go back to covering things you can understand like Bruno sticking his butt in Eminem's face.