(FORTUNE Magazine) – If it seems to you that business news has gotten a little bizarre lately, I would submit that it's because business itself has become somewhat bizarre. Consider the professional wrestling promoter, Vince McMahon. Just recently he announced that his WWF (World Wrestling Federation) would be taking its $1 billion market cap and moving--masks, whips, smackdowns, and all--from the Nasdaq to the NYSE. Hey, I have to admit, I didn't even know Vince and his investment bankers at Bear Stearns had taken the world's second-oldest profession public. But there you are.

All this came to our attention when Bethany McLean, our soft-spoken senior writer who specializes in Wall Street coverage (she recently took apart IBM's financials on these pages), suggested--nay, demanded--that she do a story on the WWF. The result, accompanied by Nina Berman's remarkable photos, is a very entertaining departure from Bethany's usual numerate analyses--and, as I said, bizarre. The WWF saga has taken as many plot twists as the spectacles it produces. Why did Bethany want to do the story? "Look at the numbers," she says, "and you realize that, as absurd--or repulsive--as many may find it, the WWF is an incredibly profitable business. Great numbers plus big men in Spandex--what more do you need?" Let's rumble.