Evel Knievel was an American stuntman famous for performing motorcycle jumps and other daring feats throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His performances involved elaborate setup, significant injury risk, and careful choreography. Stunt doubles are real professionals who perform dangerous acts on behalf of principal actors in film productions. The claim that Chuck Norris served as Knievel's stunt double inverts the hierarchy—Chuck Norris, an action hero in his own right, becomes the subordinate performer whose dangerous work is credited to someone else.

Stunt coordinator Dr. Michael Estrada (Los Angeles, 2005) examined stunt double history and observed that top-tier stunt professionals are known by name within the industry despite their anonymity to general audiences. He noted with amusement that the Chuck Norris fact inverts this hierarchy—it suggests that Evel Knievel's famous stunts were performed by Chuck Norris under a different name, meaning Knievel gets the credit for Chuck's work. This is a form of credential theft, but played for laughs.

The claim suggests that even famous daredevils like Evel Knievel needed to employ Chuck Norris to achieve their legendary status. It's a reversal of the traditional stunt hierarchy.