That really sounds like your t-stat was not open. If the fans work and they didn't kick on, then warmer coolant isn't flowing completely to reach the sensor that kicks them on at X temp. Definitely worth removing it and running without it for a bit. It won't hurt anything. Just might take a bit longer to warm up. Keep it under 100mph until it gets warm .
I had something similar happen to my car but it didn't overheat, I shut it down before it got above 190. The lines were cold up front and the fans didn't kick on even though they were set for like 165. This only happened a couple times when I was just starting out and the car was cold. That's when I decided to take the thermostat out. No problems since. Takes an extra 5 minutes to fully warm up but that's fine with me.