Combos and Why We Like Them

What is it that makes us like combos in our fighting games?
I'm not talking about a well designed combo system that forces you to make tough tactical decisions since each combo will give you different benefits instead of others. (damage, stage carry, positioning, oki, resets, meter gain and usage, opponent's meter gain, burst baiting etc.)
I'm talking about that very basic feeling that makes combos fun for us. What is the cause of that?
After thinking about it for a while, my take on the subject is that combos provide an easy and comfortable solution for our brains to make quick, easy judgements during overloads of information.
In psychology101 they teach how when you are in a good position to think clearly, you are convinced the most by strong logical arguments. But in situations when you can't (tired, being interrupted etc.) then your brain searches for alternative routes that don't require as much "brain power" to process. So in that case you'll be convinced the most by the speaker having a title of Doctor rather than his arguments.
That happens because our brain cannot handle the overload of information we get from our surroundings 24/7 and needs to make quick decisions here and now for survival. So sometimes we tend to use those easy, flawed routes.

I think that combos are that easy, flawed route in fighting games. Be honest- How many times have you started a match vs a random guy online, and the first parameter you used to determine the level of player you are facing is which combos he does, if any?
How many times do you do that when you watch a random match vid on YT? You know you do it a lot, because the other super important aspects of fighting games are too subtle and sophisticated, and you can't analyze them without getting really deep into it and dedicating enough time. You need your answer here and now so you look for combos. Even if it's not a real accurate estimate of a player's skill, it's accurate enough for your brain's daily activity.

This is where it gets even crazier- We also need that same quick, cheap criteria to measure our own progress at the game. Learning to execute that fancy new B&B in a match without dropping it anymore, will give us that satisfaction of improvement. You can't "feel" when your footsies or yomi abilities are improving because those areas are too subtle for us to notice a "visible" change in.(Not to mention they develop so slowly)

This is the primary reason why you'll never see a fighting game with no combos, or just simple 2in1s ever again. A game like this will not be successful as 99% of the players will not feel the joy of improvement while playing it, since it lacks that easy to satisfy area.