Aaron Wainwright originally looked destined for a career in football having been on the books of both Cardiff City and Newport County during his teenage years. He was at Cardiff City from Under 9-16 and was included in the Wales Under 16 football squad. But the Bassaleg Comprehensive School product finally chose the oval ball game at 17 and after playing with the youth team at Whiteheads RFC he went to study at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

His performances for Cardiff Met caught the eye of the Dragons and he made his Guinness PRO14 debut in a 43-29 defeat at Cardiff Blues in October, 2017. He went on to play 25 times that season and was picked for Wales’ summer tour to the USA and Argentina. He was an unused replacement in the victory over South Africa in Washington DC and then won his first cap came as a replacement in the 23-10 win over Argentina in San Juan. His home debut came as an 11th minute replacement for Ross Moriarty in the 20-11 win over South Africa later that year and he was retained for the 2019 6 Nations Championship.

He played a part in all five Grand Slam matches and started in the win over Italy in Rome. His first eight matches for Wales ended in victory and a rather special 2018/19 campaign ended with him sweeping the board at the Dragons annual awards as he was named the Coaches Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and Supporters Club Player of the Year. The Welsh international back row, as of June 2023, has gone on to make 93 appearances for his home region scoring 11 tries, while earning 36 caps for his country and was named in Warren Gatland's Preliminary World Cup squad ahead of the 2023 competition.