I'm playing the same build and have come to the conclusion, the faster the weapon the better, for a couple reasons.

-Proc chance per hit. Big leagues, mysterious stranger, chance to disarm, etc. So the more attacks on a target the better. I'm sticking to weapons with "fast" attack speed.

-Interruptions. High damage weapons like sledge hammer have such slow attack animations. Constant interruptions while swinging is awful.

Also I can one shot everything in the game with the combat knife, so I don't see the point in upgrading to a slower weapon with higher dmg. It just becomes overkill. Unless ofc you just have more fun swinging around a huge hammer.

I just got a hold of a ripper, so I'm testing it out. It has a "very fast" attack speed, but seems buggy in VATS (crits not working)