This fad that swept the chilly waters of Washington ’s Puget Sound in the fifties and ’ 60s wo n’t be making a comeback . Here ’s what you need to know about it .
Was it a real fad?
perfectly ! At the top of the sport ’s popularity , lots of top wrestlers garner in Tacoma in front of a gang of thousand to compete in the World Octopus Wrestling Championships .
So, how do you wrestle a slippery eight-armed opponent?
With the helper of friends . Working in teams of two or three , diver would descend as far as 60 feet to the octopus ’s lair . The team would in reality “ writhe ” the devilfish by painstakingly detach the creature ’s sucking cups and unwrapping its tentacle before slowly bringing the quarry to surface . Once on shoring , the giant beasts — which grow as large as 20 feet from tentacle tip to tip and can weigh up to 150 pound — were thresh about on a scale of measurement for judging .
Any tricks for success?
Mainly patience . Also , call up that you ’re not worm a person . A 1964Truemagazine piece summarized what made the grappler O’Rourke such a legend : “ He have sex full well the futility of try out for a genitalia cargo hold on an opposition with eight crotch . ”
What happens to the octopus?
Once brought to surface and weighed , defeated octopi would hang out in aquarium cooler until the judgement was over . Some were sent to local research labs , but most were escort back into the ocean .
Why is it never on SportsCenter?
Washington obliterate the drift with a 1976 law that made it a misdemeanor to “ molest ” or “ harass ” an octopus . So far , zero mahimahi have been brought in on charges .
The bad reputation
concord to three - time devilfish wrestling champ Gary Keffler , gargantuan Pacific octopuses get a bad rap . As he toldThe Seattle Times , “ hoi polloi always see these awful stories about them , killers of the bass . The ace we have here are pretty laid - back . ”
