For he today,

That sheds his blood with me,

Shall always be my brother.

Shakespeare

Henry V

There is nothing more important in wrestling and life than to pick the right partner.

The right partner is someone who has the same beliefs, the same value system, and the same lifestyle as you.

It is someone who brings out the best in you.

It is someone willing to bleed alongside you.

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The greatest partnerships in wrestling and marriage are two people who make each other better in their journey to make themselves better.

Not two people who are solely trying to make themselves better.

Not one person becoming better at the detriment of the other.

But rather, two people who both become better because of their alliance to the same goal.

Partnerships break down, and marriages fail when one partner feels the other is not reciprocating in making the other better, they have shifted their focus, concentrating only on making themselves better.

They become a taker and not a giver.

A taker takes, and that only lasts for a certain period.

A giver receives, and that goes on forever.

One of the greatest lessons in wrestling and marriage is learning that the partnership is about making both partners better. They make you better, and you make them better.

It is not a partnership if only one-party benefits.

The partnership needs to benefit both partners.

****

The only time in life when you get to choose your family is in marriage.

Everyone knows the wedding vows,

For better, for worse

For richer, for poorer

In sickness and in health.

How do you know you have the right partner in life?

When you have been dealt,

For worse, for poorer and in sickness and you still consider yourself lucky because you realize it is not what you go through in life; it is who you go through life with.

Shakespeare wrote in Henry V,

“For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother.”

This is a chapter excerpt from “Wrestling Rules for Life”