Karyn Best opens up about her exit from WWE.
After a successful tryout during WWE SummerSlam 2024 weekend, Karyn Best officially traded in her track shoes for a pair of wrestling boots and a new name, Summer Sorrell. As Best herself attests, though, a new environment doesn’t always negate the past.
Speaking with WrestleZone‘s Ella Jay, Best revealed that a back injury sustained during her track and field career followed her into the rings of the WWE Performance Center. Best specifically battled two bulged discs in her back, which she says don’t qualify for surgery. As a result, she often found herself in and out of the ring, receiving injections to reduce the pain and inflammation instead.
“I have been so not injury prone my entire athletic career. I never had a major injury in gymnastics. Track and field, the only thing I ever struggled with was my back, and I knew that was going to be a challenge coming into wrestling,” Best said. “That was a big reason where I thought I could never do it as well. I knew it was something that was going to hold me back, if let me do it at all. And that was really hard coming into it and developing such a love for it and knowing that it’s eventually going to be a problem. My first six months at the PC, I never had a problem with it, but then after that it was just in and out of the ring, in and out.”
Across the last six months of her time under the WWE banner, Best received three or four individual injections in an effort to heal her back. Still, the medical team noted no improvement, leaving Best unable to compete, and eventually, eliminated in season two of WWE LFG.
Best Attributes Her WWE Release To Injury
In October 2025, WWE released Best, along with several others in the developmental system, from their contracts. In Best’s case, she says her exit came as a result of her aforementioned injury.
Despite her initial disappointment with the outcome, Best is hopeful for her future in the professional wrestling industry. Moreover, she understands WWE’s decision from a business standpoint.
“When you have an injury like that and it’s not improving, you’re just kind of in the ring, and you’re out of the ring a week later, it’s just the same thing. It’s not a good look. It’s the reality of it, and I don’t blame them to be honest with you,” Best said. “I know why I was released and I understand why I was released. I understand that this is a business, and I agree with that, to be honest with you. Do wish I was able to stay longer, of course, because I have so much left to offer. Have no doubt in my mind that every other aspect of this I’m going to be able to perfect and be amazing at. I really believe that.”
Looking ahead, Best remains optimistic that the door to WWE is open for her to potentially walk back through it someday. For right now, though, she’s focusing on recovery, all while putting options to work in other wrestling promotions on the table.
“I think the door is wide open for me to come back someday, to be with another company, or any opportunity I have in this, because I know my reasons for being released were not because my promos sucked,” she said. “Got great feedback from promos. I got so much better too. My in-ring continued to get better every single time I was in the ring, and I got amazing feedback from my coaches and people higher up in the business. So in that that sense, I was a little surprised, but at the same time, I understand when you’re hurt, this is a business. I understand it, but I am doing better. I’m just taking a lot of time right now to really heal because I think that’s something I didn’t get to do at the PC.”
Watch our full interview with Karyn Best (fka Summer Sorrell):
