The Black Cats trailed at the break after Luke O'Nien's early mistake was punished by Anthony Gordon, but came roaring back in the second half and snatched all three points thanks to Chemsdine Talbi's leveller and Brian Brobbey's last gasp winner.
Delighted Rigg said there was no major tactical tweak at the break, instead revealing Regis Le Bris called for more from his players - and the head coach got the response he craved.
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"I don’t think it was a technical problem, I think we just had to realise that we were in a big derby and we needed to show a bit more heart and a bit more character. I think we’ve done that," said Rigg.
It's now 11 league derbies without defeat for Sunderland, and Rigg believes the Black Cats have the mental edge over Newcastle in this fixture.
He said: "Yeah, I feel like we do. This is the first one I’ve played in, and the first one we’ve taken two wins from as well.
"I think Trai [Hume] said it - we always look forward to these fixtures in the season and we’ve come out on top.”
Rigg was heading straight off to link-up with England's Under-19s for the international break, and joked that it's probably a good job he's out of sight rather than rubbing Sunderland victory in the face of his dad, who's a Newcastle fan.
Rigg's dad was watching from home rather than at St James' Park, and the midfielder laughed: "He probably won’t be happy. He’ll be happy for me, but obviously that’s his team.
"I probably won’t see him now - I’ll have to try and hide from him!"
After Sunderland's full-time celebrations had finished and the jubilant players headed down the tunnel, Rigg re-emerged and took a selfie on the pitch in front of the away end.
“The media team told me to do it and I was just buzzing," he laughed.
"The fans were unbelievable today. We couldn’t have done that without them - we did it for them.”
Rigg also hailed O'Nien for the way the centre-half recovered from his first half mistake that had gifted Newcastle the opener.
He said: "Luke’s so good mentally, he didn’t switch off, and I thought he had a great second half and helped us pull it back.”