Vicksburg’s Jeremiah Riggs was on a hot streak, fighting for the Bellator and Strikeforce mixed martial arts organisations.

He’d won his last five fights in a row, but then an opportunity came up that Riggs couldn’t refuse.

The WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment.

Riggs will make his premiere Monday night on USA Network’s WWE Tough Enough reality show, which will follow WWE WrestleMania XXVII at 10:05 p.m.

Fourteen contestants will try to win challenges and avoid elimination with the hope of winning a WWE contract.

“I really can’t put it into a big bundle of words,” Riggs said. “But it’s crazy how huge this is. The WWE is like the Grammies of sports entertainment. It hasn’t really hit me yet.”

No pun intended.

The transition will be an easy one for the 28-year-old Porters Chapel graduate, who has become a veteran of reality TV, starring in the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter show and on VH1’s Daisy of Love.

Riggs said that the WWE gives him a venue to show some personality, something that the octagon doesn’t really allow.

“I just wanted to use more of my personality,” Riggs said. “It’s really two different worlds (MMA and WWE) and I think with my personality, it’s more suitable to me.”

Riggs’ route to the WWE was a long one. TNA Wrestling had conversations with his manager, Allen Sircy, and Riggs met with TNA vice president Terry Taylor, but after TNA merged with WWE, the conversations ceased.

“People would ask me about doing pro wrestling, but I thought it was crazy that I could do that,” Riggs said. “When I met Terry Taylor, I told him to roll the dice with me. I’m not cocky. I’m just confident. There’s not anything I can’t do.”

Then Riggs had a chance meeting with legendary wrestler Dutch “The Dirty Dutchman” Mantell while training with the Strike Force MMA group in Nashville, Tenn. Mantell took Riggs under his wing and Riggs attended classes at Mantell’s gymnasium.

Sircy had sent WWE some DVDs of Riggs’ fights without his fighter knowing following Riggs’ last fight in January. Soon, the WWE was interested in bringing Riggs back to TV.

Riggs indicated that his fighting career has run its course and he’s ready to committ to a career in the WWE, no matter what the results of the reality show are.

“I’m done with fighting,” Riggs said. “I’ve had a hell of a career fighting and I’ve reached some high goals. I’m a big fan of MMA and I’ll always be a fighter. But it’s time to move on to something bigger. Everything I’ve done so far has led to this.”

So is Riggs going to be a heel (a villain) or a face (a good guy)? He’s content on letting the WWE fans take care of that.

“I don’t know,” Riggs said. “Really, I’m kind of in-between. I know what makes you a good guy. Like my Dad (Warren County undersheriff Jeff Riggs) told me before I left, ‘Just be you. Whether it comes off good or bad.’”