Shiloh Hill Explained

Shiloh Hill
Birthname:Thunder Justice Keck[1]
Birth Date:4 February 1999
Module:
Child:yes
Names:Shiloh Hill[2]
Trainer:WWE Performance Center
Debut:March 30, 2024
Module2:
Embed:yes
Pastschools:Stanford Cardinal
Position:Edge Defender
Class:Sixth Year
Major:Sustainability Science and Practice (MS)
Computer science (BS)
Highschool:Hotchkiss School
Birth Place:Mission Viejo, California, U.S.
Height Ft:6
Height In:3
Weight Lb:255

Thunder Justice Keck (born February 4, 1999) is an American professional wrestler and former college football player signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Shiloh Hill.

Early and personal life

Keck was born in Mission Viejo, California, to parents Eric and Beth Wacome Keck. He was raised in Northfield, New Hampshire with his siblings Zion, Darkness, Phoebe, and Zachri. He attended Winnisquam Regional Middle School, and Winnisquam Regional High School, before receiving a full scholarship to the Hotchkiss School. He was an all-state hockey player, a New Hampshire state champion in the 400m, a Founders League champion in the discuss, and placed 2nd in the New England Championship for the 100m. Keck received a full scholarship to study at Stanford University, where he studied sustainability science and practice, computer science, and Psychology.[1]

In March 2023, he had the highest name, image and likeness valuation of any Stanford athlete, being valued at $383,000.[3] By October 2023, he was valued at $529,000.[4]

His father played football at Saddleback College and Columbia University, and was a captain of the Columbia Lions.[1] [5] On July 8, 2020, his father Eric died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Northfield.[6]

College football career

Keck played only six games of high school football prior to college and joined the Stanford Cardinal in 2017. He played from 2018 until 2022. He was an outside linebacker until his fifth year. Keck was a staple of the Cardinal special teams units playing on kickoff, KOR, punt, punt return, and field goal block. He was known for his physicality, speed, and effort on special teams under Coach Alamar and eventually earned playing time as situational 3rd down player on the Cardinal defense. Then, in 2020, Keck earned the starting spot at Outside Linebacker and was also listed as a backup Inside Linebacker. The Cardinal's season was cut short due to the pandemic but Keck finished with 17 tackles, 1 TFL, 3 PBUs, and 5 QB hurries, in 5 games. While in his sixth year in 2022, he became an edge rusher but sustained an injury in the first game, so he did not compete for the rest of the season. He had 27 tackles, 4 PBUs, 2 TFLs, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery throughout his football career.[3]

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2022–present)

On June 13, 2022, Keck was named as one of fifteen college athletes to have signed to the WWE's second class of their Next in Line program, which he found through a social media consultant at his school.[7]

On March 30, 2024, he made his in-ring debut under his real name at an NXT live event, in a losing effort against Drake Morreaux.[8] 3 months later, on the June 6 episode of NXT Level Up, Keck made his on-screen debut under the ring name Shiloh Hill teaming with Jasper Troy in a tag team match, losing to Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo and Tony D'Angelo.[9] On the June 21 episode of Level Up, Hill picked up his first victory, against Uriah Connors, after hitting him with a fireman's carry into a cutter.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Thunder Keck – Football . . June 16, 2024 . https://archive.today/20240613235750/https://gostanford.com/sports/football/roster/thunder-keck/19005 . June 13, 2024.
  2. Web site: Thunder Keck: Profile & Match Listing . The Internet Wrestling Database . June 16, 2024 . https://archive.today/20240614084955/http://www.profightdb.com/wrestlers/thunder-keck-23723.html . June 14, 2024.
  3. News: Kroichick . Ron . Wrestling, the dark web, a man named Thunder: Stanford’s unlikely NIL star . June 16, 2024 . limited . . March 11, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230420150749/https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/college/article/stanford-thunder-keck-wwe-17802763.php . April 20, 2023.
  4. News: Vasile . Sarah . WWE Created Its Own NIL Pipeline for Recruiting College Athletes. Now It’s Paying Off. . June 16, 2024 . . September 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231005104645/https://www.si.com/college/2023/09/12/wwe-nil-pipeline-next-in-line-recruting-college-athletes . October 5, 2023.
  5. News: Cavanaugh . Jack . COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Man of Mountains Scales a New One . subscription . June 16, 2024 . . September 14, 1995 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100930185044/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/14/sports/college-football-man-of-mountains-scales-a-new-one.html . September 30, 2010.
  6. News: Dr. Eric Shane Keck . June 16, 2024 . . July 29, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200804120248/https://www.timesargus.com/obituaries/dr-eric-shane-keck/article_20567f77-1c3c-55ea-849a-34158884671d.html . August 4, 2020.
  7. News: Vannini . Chris . WWE’s push into college sports is already creating new pro wrestlers . June 16, 2024 . subscription . . July 6, 2023 . https://archive.today/20240616194832/https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4667944/2023/07/06/wwe-college-athletes/ . June 16, 2024.
  8. Web site: NXT Melbourne Show at Melbourne Auditorium wrestling results . The Internet Wrestling Database . https://web.archive.org/web/20240614084549/http://www.profightdb.com/cards/nxt/melbourne-show-52543.html . June 14, 2024 . March 30, 2024.
  9. News: Chik . Jon . NXT Level Up results, June 14, 2024: Chase takes down Price in hard-hitting battle . June 16, 2024 . . June 13, 2024 . https://archive.today/20240615090946/https://www.wwe.com/shows/nxt-level-up/nxt-level-up-june-14-2024 . June 15, 2024.
  10. News: Chik . Jon . NXT Level Up results: June 21, 2024 . June 22, 2024 . WWE . June 21, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240622092050/https://www.wwe.com/shows/nxt-level-up/article/nxt-level-up-results-june-21-2024 . June 22, 2024.