Eric Bischoff understands a number of the issues and challenges he faces with WWE’s current creative model.

The former WCW president and experienced television producer is back with WWE in a newly created Executive Director role that puts him in charge of creative for “SmackDown Live.” Bischoff is taking the reins of “SmackDown Live” at an important time, before the show moves to Fox on Oct. 4.

Bischoff has not had a backstage role with a major wrestling show since his time with TNA ended in 2013. During a recent interview with The Post about the industry’s future on television and in streaming, he expressed his views on WWE’s PG-rated product and some of the reasons their shows’ ratings have dipped.

“I think the single largest thing to me as a producer is that the content for the last couple years has been very sterile,” Bischoff said in a phone interview in March, prior to WrestleMania 35. “It’s been very good, there is nothing wrong with it, but there’s nothing great about it because it’s become very sterilized for the masses.”

He noted the creative difficulties that follow when a product, such as WWE, is targeting a younger audience.

“Eventually it gets to be very difficult when you are operating under the basis of don’t offend anyone, it’s really hard to create a wrestling storyline based on good guys and bad guys without offending somebody,” Bischoff said.

When asked whether it will take star power reminiscent of the late 1990s Attitude Era (the Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin) for WWE and wrestling to become a more visible part of pop culture, Bischoff agreed it’s still a star-driven business. He said WWE no longer places that level of importance on any one performer, and Brock Lesnar’s contract — which includes only sporadic television appearances — doesn’t make it feasible for it to be him.

“Look at WWE over the last couple years,” Bischoff said. “While they have had a lot of people positioned as main eventers, so far none of them were really [mainstream-level] stars. None of them would be what I consider to be the Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rock, John Cena type of star. Those stars when they won a championship, they held onto it for a long, long, long, long time. They built the company around those guys.

“What we have seen most recently the last couple years is just more interchangeability for reasons that are obvious to those who know anything about Brock’s relationship with WWE. Brock is kind of off floating in his own little universe and he comes in and he comes out, so they are not building the company around him.”

He said there are people WWE can build the company around, but he didn’t see that being done. Bischoff went on to mention Becky Lynch’s rise, and said a big reason for it was because of the not-quite-PG content she put on social media.

“She has even able to do stuff on social media that she definitely wouldn’t be able to get away with on a network television show that’s targeting 14-year-old kids,” Bischoff said.

During an a live show for the “Inside the Ropes” podcast in January, Bischoff talked about how he would make WWE’s brand extension – which has since been muddled by the wild-card rule – more successful. He mentioned making “Raw” and “SmackDown” completely different and raising the stakes.

“It’s gotta be believable or nobody’s going to buy into it,” Bischoff said at the time. “But don’t let the talent start transitioning back and forth, because you’ll dilute the concept. They won’t feel like two brands, they’ll just feel like two different shows, which is what they already feel like.”

He argues that WWE does such a great job producing television that it is “almost too perfect” and lacks grit. The legendary nWo gimmick, which Bischoff helped create, brought that to WCW’s programming in the 90s.

“They don’t both have to feel gritty, but one of them has to feel a little edgy, a little dangerous, like something is going to happen that you wouldn’t expect on one show because it’s a little less sophisticated,” Bischoff added. “That’s the magic.”

Bischoff may soon get that chance as the counterpart to Paul Heyman calling the shots for “Monday Night Raw,” which could give WWE’s flagship shows two very distinct creative visions.