So the rest of you don't have to dig:
G-Raver got off due to it being a parody, in much the same way that Larry Flynt was able to run an ad featuring Reverend Jerry Falwell talking about having incestual relations with his mother in a copy of Hustler. It pretty much went the way I figured it would, as the image was a caricature and not a direct photograph, in addition to it featuring a message directly related to the target of the caricature.
Question for one of TSM's legal beagles. Copyright issues aside, couldn't a shirt like this be construed as a threat? It'd be funny if Jim Cornette used the "THESE FUCKIN' DEATH MATCH FUCKS ARE THREATENIN' ME! GOD DAMN!" considering how much he fun of Russo for filing a restraining order. Which is probably why he went the copyright route instead of threat route.
Nope. G-Raver (and his attorney) went into detail about the violent depictions.
1. The violence itself is due to G-Raver's career as a deathmatch wrestler, amplified by Cornette's vocal distaste for the style.
2. The tattoo needles being the weapon being used is due to those being his trademark weapon during his matches, thus on brand.
3. The duct tape was to signify that Cornette should "stop talking" about deathmatch wrestling.
There isn't a direct call for harm against Cornette, particularly not in the way that Corny has targeted at others (like Russo) himself, so it can't be taken as a threat. Municipal Waste has a shirt of Trump blowing his brains out, every remotely political punk band in the 80s had something similar about Reagan, Gwar has killed dozens of celebrities on stage, etc.