Once widely popular, the sport saw a decline with the rise of freestyle wrestling and karate in the late 1960s.

Prominent phayalvans (wrestlers) during this period included Manacaud Narayana Pillai, Polachira Ramachandran, Kattuchira Pappudas, Shankar Singh, Kayamkulam Dhayanandhan, Electric Moideen Kunj, Aslam Basheer, Kollam Rasheed, Nickel Jamal, among others.

[5] Gatta gusthi remained a major sporting event in the state till the late 1960s.

[6] According to the Kerala State Wrestling Association, audience interest declined due to rumours of match fixing.

[4] In India, traditional Indian martial arts and combat sports as a whole began fading after the introduction of karate in the later half of the 20th century.

During 1970s, with the influx of foreign martial arts films, Indians began travelling to East Asia in large numbers to learn karate and returned to open karate schools across the Indian subcontinent, in cities as well as in small towns and villages.

[5] Gatta gusthi is similar to maati kushti (mud wrestling) of North India.

[1] The main difference between gatta gusthi and freestyle wrestling is the duration and point system.

[12] Gatta gusthi is a regular sporting event at the annual Cochin Carnival held at Fort Kochi.

[13] In 2020, Kerala Excise organised a competition at Fort Kochi as part of "Vimukthi", an anti-narcotics and de-addiction campaign by the government.

[14] Gatta gusthi and phayalvans are featured in the Malayalam films Oridathoru Phayalvaan (1981), Mutharamkunnu P.O.