Because the game is no longer commercially available through official digital channels, many fans play using a (a digital copy of the disc) via emulation.
However, the distribution of Here Comes the Pain ISOs exists in a legal and ethical gray area. While creating a backup copy of a game you own is legally permissible in some jurisdictions, downloading an ISO from the internet—even for a game no longer in commercial production—violates copyright law. Rights holders like Take-Two Interactive (which owns WWE’s game license) rarely enforce these claims for legacy titles, but the legal reality remains. The widespread availability of these files on forums and archive sites is driven less by malicious piracy and more by the video game industry’s historical failure to maintain a commercial digital storefront for its back catalog. --- WWE Smackdown Here Comes The Pain PS2 ISO