Not a fan of the "bashing" procedure either, but it happens. Hope I've not been guilty of that myself. I'll tell you what really clinched the Sea Beast's identity for me, though, and that was comparing Revelation 2:13 to Revelation 13:2. "Satan's seat" or "throne" (thronos) that was in the city of Pergamos was given to the Sea Beast.
The Roman Senate records that in 133 BC, King Attalus III gave his entire Pergamum kingdom and "Satan's seat", (the 40' tall altar in the city of Pergamos, the capital) into the hands of his ally, the Roman Republic, as a dying bequest, since the king had no heir to whom he could pass his Pergamum kingdom. That confirms to me that the Sea Beast (aka Daniel 7's 4th "dreadful and terrible" beast) was definitely connected in some way with ancient Rome, even before it became an empire. The 10 horns on this Sea Beast that were connected somehow with ancient Rome are an easy fit with the 10 horns as emperors to whom Israel was subjugated before its destruction. Nero's biography matches the literal time period of 42 months of the Sea Beast "making war" on the saints and "wearing them out" with persecution starting with the aftermath of the AD 64 fire at Rome and lasting until shortly before Nero's death in AD 68.