Thunder Justice Keck (born February 4, 1999) is an American
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
and former
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
player. As a professional wrestler, he signed to
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
, where he performs under the
ring name
A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
Shiloh Hill.
Early and personal life
Keck was born in
Mission Viejo
Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...
, 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
The Hotchkiss School is a private college-preparatory day and boarding school in Lakeville, Connecticut. It educates approximately 600 students in grades 9–12, plus postgraduates. Founded in 1891, it was one of the first English-style boardi ...
. He was an all-state hockey player, a New Hampshire state champion in the 400m, a
Founders League
The Founders League is an American athletic league comprising a number of college preparatory schools. Founded in 1984, it consists of ten schools in Connecticut and one from eastern New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state ...
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
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, where he studied
sustainability science and practice,
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
, and Psychology.
In March 2023, he had the highest
name, image and likeness
In college athletics in the United States, a student-athlete who participates in a varsity sport on any and all levels is eligible to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Historically, the National Association of Intercollegiate At ...
valuation of any Stanford athlete, being valued at $383,000.
By October 2023, he was valued at $529,000.
His father played football at
Saddleback College
Saddleback College is a public community college in Mission Viejo, California. It is part of the California Community College system and awards over 300 associate degrees, academic certificates, and occupational skills awards in 190 programs. ...
and
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, and was a captain of the
Columbia Lions
The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling.
History
Intercollegia ...
.
On July 8, 2020, his father Eric died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Northfield.
College football career
Keck played only six games of high school football prior to college and joined the
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...
in 2017. He played from 2018 until 2022. He was an
outside linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...
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
Edge rusher, also called an edge defender or simply edge, is a position in gridiron football. The position is used as an alternate term for a pass rushing defensive end or outside linebacker and is sometimes considered its own position entirely.
...
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
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
career.
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
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
's second class of their
Next in Line program, which he found through a social media consultant at his school. On March 30, 2024, he made his in-ring debut under his real name at an
NXT live event
A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...
, in a losing effort against Drake Morreaux. Three months later on the June 6 episode of ''
NXT Level Up'', Keck made his
on-screen debut under the
ring name
A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
Shiloh Hill, teaming with
Jasper Troy in a
tag team match
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...
losing to The D'Angelo Family (
Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo and
Tony D'Angelo). On the June 21 episode of ''NXT'' ''Level Up'', Hill picked up his first victory against
Uriah Connors.
In February 2025, Hill participated in the first season of ''
LFG
LFG may refer to:
* Landfill gas, a waste gas containing methane and other gases emitted by landfills
* Lexical functional grammar, a theory of syntax
* Lagged Fibonacci generator, an example of a pseudorandom number generator
* "Looking for group ...
(Legends & Future Greats)'', a
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
series involving "rising talents" competing for a
NXT contract and was mentored by
The Undertaker
Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by his ring name the Undertaker, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway ...
. On the May 6 episode of ''
NXT'', Hill made his NXT debut where he participated in the 25-man
battle royal
Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...
to become the #1 contender for the
NXT Championship
The NXT Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, defended as the top men's championship of NXT (WWE brand), NXT, the promotion's Farm team, de ...
at
NXT Battleground but was eliminated by
Trick Williams
Matrick Mondre Belton (born May 26, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on its NXT brand, under the ring name Trick Williams. He also makes appearances in WWE's partner promotion Total Nonstop Acti ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Shiloh
1999 births
21st-century male professional wrestlers
21st-century American professional wrestlers
Hotchkiss School alumni
Living people
Players of American football from Mission Viejo, California
Sportspeople from Mission Viejo, California
Stanford Cardinal football players
Stanford University alumni