Top lane was much more fun in the days of exclusively Melee vs Melee.
Unlike mid, where accurate clicking won the lane, a good top was one who better understood wave manipulation, control, and abuse.
Holding your cc until the enemy accidentally picks up aggro etc....
Heck, on ur Riven point, at least (if you know what you are doing) you can zone her off some cs while all her spells are on CD.
Eventually she will pick up CDR, but if you properly punish her trades early, cdr won't be enough to push through you anymore.
Ever since Brutalizer was split into Cauliflower Warhammer and Serrated Dick, the 20% cdr item rush on riven became much weaker unless you had a lead b4 buying cdr.