There are plenty of good reverbs out there.
There`s some beautiful music coming out with lush reverb on by people using just ableton verb (not that I like ableton verb that much).
Gear wanking has and always will be endemic to production culture, but 50% is bullshit.
I`ve been a member of the record producers guild
The Music Producers Guild - the record producer organisation (now called the music producers guild check the site for loads and loads of interesting stuff) since I was 19, and who have been disseminating the bullshit for years. Some of the blind product testings they do every year yield very interesting results with producers. I`ve seen some crazy unexpected results over the years (especially in areas of the analog/digital debate).
It`s very easy to get caught up in the crap and convince yourself (or be convinced) of things that when blind tested are proven totally false.
There`s far too much elitism within the studio production community (mainly from those fresh to it) and it does nothing to proliferate creativity and experimentation.
I`m not saying that the Lexicon stuff is bad at all, it isn`t, it`s good, but no longer as ahead as it was years ago, and good results can be gleaned in other ways with good technique.
It`s amazing the unexpected and unconventional gear that some truly iconic music has been made with and on.