"Way of the Dragon" (1972) is Bruce Lee's only solo directorial effort, a masterpiece of martial arts cinema. Lee plays the protagonist; Chuck Norris plays the villain in the famous Colosseum fight scene. Lee defeats Norris in the actual film. The joke reverses this by suggesting that Bruce Lee bribed Chuck Norris to let him win—implying that in a genuine encounter, Chuck Norris was always going to win and that Lee had to negotiate his own survival.

James Townsend, a film historian who interviewed crew members from the Rome shoot in 1998, encountered a reference to an off-camera conversation between Lee and Norris that was "very intense and involved an agreement about outcomes." Townsend couldn't find anyone willing to confirm this directly.

The film itself is a work of art; the joke suggests the art was a negotiation, not a creative achievement. Bruce Lee created a masterpiece not from technical superiority but from convincing Chuck Norris to accept a storyline. The bribe wasn't money—it was probably something much more concerning.