You remember Django ? The Dutch Tech ? Hes been at our camping site when the EC in Amsterdam was cancelled and he was talking about efforts to get Robot Wars going again, but in a different kind of format. Your friend might have been hearing something like that. If the rumour he heared involved a kind of travelling circus, thats spot on.
Dont get your hopes up. At this stage its an awful lot of talking and having bright ideas. Better stick with the current way... roboteers organising their own games and having a lot of fun at them. And dont expect television cameras.
After all, this is a hobby. A darn fun one though, smashing things up...