Pretty much this. The Raikage is recognized as the strongest ninja of the Hidden Cloud Village so pretty much all other great ninja village will know him and his reputation. The Hidden Rain Village kept their affairs pretty secretive to the point where few probably knew of their civil war. So although Pain was feared and revered as a god during and after the war it was still pretty self-contained reputation. I think this goes w/o saying that Pain was the current Akatsuki leader at the time and we've pretty much only saw him wear the Akatsuki cloak in part 2, so it would've been foolish to be seen as the leader of a Hidden Village and be a member of Akatsuki at the same time. If he projected his image more publicly then he would've attracted the unwanted attention of the other villages.obviously the raikage, pein kept himself in the shadows of his village so nobody actually knew or "feared" him except for the villagers.
raikage on the other hand has a reputation known all the way in the rock village