It makes sense that the majority of rage skills do more damage and even stack sometimes since that is pretty much all they are about. They have no defense to speak of and Thunder Lips's 50% win percentage is evidence of that. Theatrics glads can counter attack vs a rage and get a ton of attacks as well (Chuck Norris does this with good results), you'll just have to weather the storm a bit. War gets heavy armor which is a bitch to get through, sunder armor helps but what helps even more is the most recent fad of war glads stripping off their armor. By doing so it has allowed Thunder Lips to go back to daggers and get even more attacks. You might recall Thunder Lips used to go with daggers about a month ago but had to upgrade to broad swords because he couldn't do enough damage against the heavy armor to win fights consistently. Once many at the top started stripping down (even theatrics) to leather you voluntarily placed yourself in rage territory without the natural benefits of being a rager.
For the entire time this game has been around I think rage has had the short end of the stick and the rankings showed that for quite some time. Now as we are entering a new phase of the game with gladiators hitting the higher skills I think war and theatrics managers might have to change things up, the old tricks of the past might not work as well anymore. One thing I'll say for this game is you have to keep up with the times, strategies that work in the 10s-20s range might not work in the 30s-40s range and the 30s-40s tricks might not work in the 40s-50s. Add on top of that the achievement system and a gladiator can easily be tricked out differently each day which in my opinion is awesome. Keeps things fresh and prevents stagnation and gives players options. I thought I had a great winning combo with my new gear and achievement selections but Ormgar proved that wrong. I think what you might be seeing is the more powerful gladiators become the harder it is to make a one size beats all build and that is a good thing in my book.
It would be cool if we could have a separate fight strategy for when we get our challenges as that would make for another level of strategy. Hell, it would be cool if we could have a 2nd gear setup to be used with that strategy, that would open up all kinds of options and lessen the burden somewhat of trying to come up with a strategy that will work well against all types, but then again the restriction on options is what makes things more interesting and manageable.
I say give it some more time and that will tell all, it usually does.