Probably just a gameplay thing, although it is kinda weird for a weapon as legendary as Gorehowl is an entry level raid drop. It makes sense that someone from the Legion would have it, guess it just wound up in his hands and subsequently mine as well
Having read that awful comic I can say they do not mention Gorehowl there. Its pretty simple, Blizz just threw Gorehowl in there for funsies. There's no lore stating Malcheazzar ever had it.
We dont explicitly know what happened, but Thrall had Gorehowl. Grom died alongside where Thrall was. It seems pretty simple that he'd just take the axe since it was pretty iconic. The weapon that slew Mannoroth.
It could be possible that demons did indeed snatch it away after Mannoroth's defeat, and then Lore-wise, one of the horde adventuring parties killed Malchezzar, and took the axe to Thrall?
So far, SoO boss testing has been pretty much one or two bosses at a time, and not going through the whole place, right ?
We know Garrosh abandons Gorehowl. Anyone have any clue if it's picked up by anyone ?
I am the one who knocks ... because I need your permission to enter.
Well, Karazhan is one big jumble of different times and places intersecting, which is the very reason the legion is so interested in it, so maybe some effect of that put Gorehowl into Malchezaar's hands.
Or the "Ockham's razor"-option: Blizz wanted to throw the "Warcraft III"-horde fanboys a bone by making that supposedly emblematic weapon available to players to use (Personally think it's overrated, but i play alliance :P )