Central VT to WWE: A Profile of Shiloh Hill

https://www.timesargus.com/slider/montpeliers-shiloh-hill-rises-up-iwwe-ranks/article_86b58173-3d9d-41b7-b099-33550bfb151f.html

I didn't take either of the photos of Hill.

To WWE fans he’s Shiloh Hill, the up-and-coming 'Hellraiser.' Mentorship by the Undertaker helped Hill graduate to the WWE NXT brand, where he will soon compete in a debut match. He’s cultivated millions of online fans and is known for his dark web explorations. 

Central Vermonters, on the other hand, recognize him as the former Montpelier resident, Thunder Keck. He grew up in the state capital as a kid with big dreams, lots of athletic talent and a lemonade stand.

Hill blends technology, storytelling and physical strength into a career of getting punched and throwing punches.

“I’ve kind of got beef with The Times Argus,” Hill said. “They drove me out of business in third grade.” 

Hill remembers a lemonade stand and raking in around $40 before a story was published. 

“The next weekend we tried to do it again (make lemonade out of lemons), but every kid in Montpelier read the article and also had a lemonade stand,” Hill said. “It completely drove us out of business. The market was way oversaturated.” 

He was referring to a 2007 article about his family tree house. The article only mentions lemonade in a statement highlighting the young Hill's ambition, “They pop open their cans of lemonade and each take a box of Dots and Phoebe (Keck) and Thunder talk about if they were Superman how far they could fly off the tree house,” wrote Caroline Sedano.

Memories sour with time.

"It was like I had been in an hour-long segment on national news,” he said. 

Hill’s wish to push his boundaries stayed with him as he left that tree. Over time he has directed his energy toward computer science.

“When I was younger I liked playing video games,” he said. “I originally got into computer programming by making Minecraft mods because I really liked Minecraft and I wanted to make it do different stuff. That’s how I learned about java [script]. It was actually that I was really interested in computer science, which led me to playing football - which led me to going to Stanford."

Hill continues, “I was really interested in computer science during my early years of high school, so I wanted to do a cyber security camp - and I saw there was a free one at Dartmouth. So I went. [I] stayed with one of my high school track teammates who lived in the Dartmouth area, and he was like:

‘Hey, you’re running track. I know you’re really fast. You should come to this football camp at Dartmouth, which is at the same time, and do their combine testing.’

"My dad also played college football, so he gave me some pointers before,"

‘Just be really physical and try to do really well.’

"It was a three-day football camp and a three-day computer science camp at Dartmouth. And I was doing both of them. I got offered by Stanford. And Stanford is typically regarded as one of the top schools in computer science.”

Hill received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Masters degree in Sustainability Science and Practice from Stanford, where he excelled as a linebacker and member of the special teams. He played in 32 games for the Cardinals, who are two-time national champs. 

“I was trying to pursue playing football after college,” Hill said. “But my last year at Stanford I ruptured my Achilles [tendon] on the opening kickoff of the season - like the very first play.” 

As the season continued and Hill’s Achilles steadily healed, another opportunity flew his way.

“I was literally just in the locker room when one of my friends said, ‘Hey, there’s a group of people from WWE who are here seeing if people would be interested in wrestling,’"

“It just so happened that, that day I was wearing a WrestleMania T-shirt

and I walked by the office… ‘Would you ever want to wrestle?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I would want to wrestle.'”

Although Stanford is located over 3,000 miles away from Hill’s hometown, it was a doctor from Central Vermont Medical Center who played a key role in giving Hill the green light to wrestle. 

“At the time of the physical, I realized that I had to get cleared by a MD to be able to do the wrestling trial. And I wasn’t yet cleared, just because I was still having mobility problems and everything. So I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do the trial. But I went to my grandfather’s house to visit him."

Hill replayed the conversation between himself and his grandfather, Tom Keck.

‘I really want to. My Achilles is feeling good. I just can’t get a doctor’s appointment in time to get cleared. Because my PT had cleared me, but I had to get cleared by a MD.'

‘Oh you should hit up Brad Watson, who’s an anesthesiologist. He’s a MD.’

"Because he was friends with my dad and everything growing up. I called him and he was like,"

‘Hey, how are you?’

‘Oh I’m good.’

‘It’s funny you called me, I’m actually pulling into your grandfather’s driveway right now.’

"So we look out the window and he’s pulling into my grandfather’s driveway, and I’m like: ‘No way. Get out of the car.’"

And then I come out and he was like ‘What the heck is going on?'

Hill had been healing for awhile, but wasn’t sure if he would get medical clearance at this point.

“He was like, ‘Your mobility is good, strength good,’” Hill described. “And then he signed the thing and cleared me... It was definitely the week of the trial. Then I tried out and I made it. So me and my grandpa were like, ‘I don’t know if I believe in fate or supernatural stuff.’ But we’re like, ‘Wow, this is meant to be.’” 

At that point Hill was a visible presence with a towering 6-foot-3 frame any time he stepped foot in Montpelier. However, it’s possible that his grandfather was even more of a prominent figure after teaching thousands of industrial arts students at U-32. 

“He’s real into restoring old cars and everything,” Hill said of his grandfather. 

Tom Keck was easily recognizable driving a mint 1957 Chevy around town and can still be spotted working out at local gyms.  

“People have probably seen him doing burnouts in front of the Capital building and stuff in Montpelier - he’s kind of a crazy driver,” Hill said with a laugh.

“He’s always been a big supporter. I think all the kids know him and Bev, who was my grandmother. She was a teacher at Union Elementary, so there’s a whole generation of people that had both of them as teachers growing up.”  

Another mentor of Hill’s was the Undertaker on the WWE Legends & Future Greats series. He started his career in 1987 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022 before taking Hill under his wing. 

“I watched him a lot growing up and everything,” Hill said. “When I was little, I was super, super afraid of him. So it was pretty intimidating having my first match in front of him. I was not really sure how it would be talking to him, but he’s a really, really

cool guy. He not only taught me a lot in the ring, but just a lot about being a respectful guy within the wrestling business and kind of navigating all the ins and outs of life in that regard. So it was a really cool experience. I feel so grateful to be able

to learn from him because pretty much everyone within the wrestling business would kill for an opportunity to be mentored by him.” 

Hill’s father was a World Cup downhill skier who attended the Green Mountain Valley School and skied alongside U.S. legends like AJ Kitt and Tommy Moe. Keck taught special education at U-32 and passed away suddenly from a heart attack in 2020.  “The people that did have him as a teacher, he had a really profound impact on their life,” Hill said. “There were a lot of people that were really hurt by his passing. I feel like he inspired a lot of people to follow their heart and do things that they want to see done and try to [have] the impact that they want to see unfold in the community. A person who a lot of people loved and depended on. But I don’t view it as a tragedy that he passed because he was able to do so many positive things within his life.” 

Hill has a knack for framing his world in stories: sections of a book with smooth transitions when necessary.

Some of his series' online have more longevity than others, and most of his traction is from his videos about the dark web. The dark web is part of the internet that isn’t accessible through traditional search engines.

The dark web hosts anonymous businesses, which allows for more abstract products and services to be sold. Hill’s videos feature him interacting with what he discovers online.

He allegedly has paid people to bring gnomes to his home, bought mysterious shoes from 'The Shoeman' and created a robot for an artificial intelligence named 'The Beast' to inhabit. His Instagram and Tik Tok accounts each have nearly two million followers and he also has almost 130,000 YouTube subscribers.  

“They’re legit, but they’ve been a useful tool to me in order to learn how to take something, take all these questions and wrap them into an entrapping story,” Hill said referring to his online content.

“Being able to take elements of things that are happening and present them in a way that gets people engaged. And I think that’s something that’s translated really well into the wrestling world, because it’s the same kind of basically figuring out a way to create stories that draw on people’s emotions and get them interested in what you’re

doing. So yeah, it’s been a cool, fun way to explore and build a community around things that people find mysterious and interesting.” 

What’s next for Hill’s social media career is unclear, but for the time being he’s creating content based on whatever he finds intriguing. 

“A lot of that is whatever happens that day I’ll post about,” he said. 

According to Hill, his debut fight for NXT may airing in the near future. 

“If anyone from Montpelier wants to tune in on The CW network sometime soon, then I’ll probably be having one of my first matches,” Hill said. 

Reality is what someone makes of it, and Hill has been determined to learn from those around him and take advantage of the opportunities when they fly his way. His experiences haven’t always been conventional, but Hill’s constant curiosity has helped guide him to where he is today. 

Many played key roles in shaping Hill during his formative years, and many more people will influence what’s next for the WWE competitor. A story often only gets attention when it’s entertaining, even when those following the script know that some

of the parts are abstract. But no one will continue their gaze without a central narrative, and in this story it’s not shoes nor wrestling nor Minecraft. It’s Hill. 

“At my core, I’m still like a third grader in Montpelier playing in the creek and just a small-town kid,” Hill said. “So I feel like my message to anyone would be: If there’s something you want to do, just go try to do it... I’m just another kid in Montpelier who’s just going out and trying to do something they think is cool.”