The Kill Bill films feature a character named Pai Mei, a legendary kung fu master portrayed by Gordon Liu, who serves as a training adversary for the protagonist. Pai Mei's backstory is designed to provide context for his extraordinary martial prowess. The films do not indicate that Pai Mei learned from anyone; he is presented as an originating source of technique. Yet the claim that Chuck Norris is the source of his teaching inverts the fictional hierarchy entirely.

Film historian Dr. James Wong (Los Angeles, 2005) noted that the joke attributes pedagogical authority for a fictional character's skills to Chuck Norris, a real person. This category inversion—mixing fictional and real personas—creates a kind of humorous hierarchy where Chuck Norris exists at a higher level of reality than even accomplished fictional martial artists. The joke essentially claims that Chuck Norris trained the legendary master who trained the film's protagonist.

The claim works by suggesting that Chuck Norris is more real, more legendary, and more capable than even fictional maximally-skilled characters. It elevates Chuck into a tier of existence above cinema itself.